Performer Notes

They must be putting something in the water over there in Iceland that makes musicians work in unexpected ways. Their biggest pop and rock exports -- Bj”rk and Sig£r Ros, respectively -- have borne very little relation to what the rest of the world thinks of as pop and rock, so why should their most promising young neo-classical composer be any different? At an age when most young men are still trying to decide between grad school and the night shift at Denny's, Olafur Arnalds has already made a name for himself as a musical maverick who skirts the edges of the classical, rock, electronic, and avant-garde worlds with enthusiastic ease, a Nico Muhly with a higher tolerance for cold weather, if you will. On his second full-length release, Arnalds moves further away from electronics to embrace a more acoustically oriented approach centered on piano and strings. Electronics do play a supporting role -- they're simply used to enhance the atmosphere here and there, but in the main, Arnalds is creating 21st century chamber music here, as the piano makes simple, elegant statements whose harmonic possibilities are further fleshed out by the strings. And Arnalds may be a modernist in terms of pushing stylistic boundaries, but he still has some old-school, downright romantic notions about melodic movement -- you won't find any polytonality or serial music among these tracks. Arnalds prefers instead to repurpose old-school harmonic conventions in a new context, offering the listener a readily accessible emotional connection but still breaking new ground. And on the few strategic spots in the album where Arnalds drops in drums and/or electric guitar and repetitive motifs, the effect is not dissimilar to the headier moments of the aforementioned Sig£r Ros, or perhaps early-`70s Pink Floyd at their most ethereal, showing the rock crowd that they too have a point of entry into this music. ~ J. Allen

Professional Reviews

Spin - "Arnalds' game is more ambience than transcendence -- so the four very brief detours into Explosions in the Sky-style post-rock seem all the more cinematic."

Pitchfork (Website) - "It's melodic, sensitive, rhythmically subdued....A few tracks feature very prominent climaxes with laidback rock percussion, at which times the starry nocturnes flood with daylight."

Clash (magazine) - "[A]n uplifting and richly orchestrated second album....Delicate string arrangements married with subtle synths highlight Arnalds' trademark piano sound..."

Uncut (magazine) (p.81) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he frosted beauty of 'Kjurrt' is a particular highlight."

Album: ...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Du Ert Solin	More Info...	0:03
2)	Du Ert Jordin	More Info...	0:04
3)	Tunglio	More Info...	0:04
4)	Loftio Verour Skyndilega Kalt	More Info...	0:05
5)	Kjurrt	More Info...	0:04
6)	Gleypa Okkur	More Info...	0:05
7)	Hægt, Kemur Ljosio	More Info...	0:05
8)	Undan Hulu	More Info...	0:05
9)	Dau Hafa Sloppio Undan Dunga Myrkursins	More Info...	0:04

Album: ...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Du Ert Solin	More Info...	0:03
2)	Du Ert Jordin	More Info...	0:04
3)	Tunglio	More Info...	0:04
4)	Loftio Verour Skyndilega Kalt	More Info...	0:05
5)	Kjurrt	More Info...	0:04
6)	Gleypa Okkur	More Info...	0:05
7)	Hægt, Kemur Ljosio	More Info...	0:05
8)	Undan Hulu	More Info...	0:05
9)	Dau Hafa Sloppio Undan Dunga Myrkursins	More Info...	0:04