About

A TAV Curator’s Pick.

Standing at the intersection where techno meets classical music, Ólafur Arnalds directs the newest Late Night Tales.

After releasing the breakthrough album ‘And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness’, in 2014 he was awarded a BAFTA for best original music for the TV series Broadchurch. Arnalds’ music has a quietude that seems perfectly apposite and that’s evident here as each song drifts like an autumn wind towards the next.

Arnalds has enlisted the help of a few of his countrymen for the journey out west – electronic bands Samaris and Hjaltalín – and just as his records manage to combine the experimentalism and adventure of electronic music with a classical sensibility, here he weaves them perfectly, using tracks like Koreless’ brilliant post-dubstep ‘Last Remnants’ alongside the enigmatic brilliance of Jai Paul. It’s a perfect musical landscape that is eerie yet beautiful, as on Odesza’s ‘How Did I Get Here’.

As if Ólafur wasn’t spoiling us enough, he offers up three exclusives: his own ‘Kinesthesia I’ and ‘RGB’ and ‘Orgoned’ by his techno side project Kiasmos. Alongside that we have the obligatory cover version (Destiny’s Child’s ‘Say My Name’) and also a Late Night Tales debut for David Tennant, reading a story by Anam Sufi, with whom Ólafur worked on Broadchurch.

"When I was asked to do the next installation of the Late Night Tales series I thought "This will be fun and easy, only a couple of days work. No problem!". Six months later, I was still pulling my hair out in some kind of quest to make the perfect mix. As someone who has never really done mixes before, I learned a lot of things along the way and the whole experience was very inspiring. I decided to approach the mix in a similar way as I would one of my scores. This is the soundtrack of my life. I included songs from many of my friends and collaborators and tried to deliver a mix that represents who I am as an artist and where my influences are coming from - both personally and musically.”  - Ólafur Arnalds, April 2016

Source: LateNightTales

Tracklist:

A Side:

1. Hjálmar Lárusson and Jónbjörn Gíslason - Jómsvíkingarímur - ýta feldi eigi rór / 1:13
2. Julianna Barwick - Forever / 5:30
3. Koreless - Last Remnants / 4:20
4. Odesza - How Did I Get Here (Instrumental) / 2:10
5. Anois - A Noise / 4:06

B Side:

1. Samaris - Góða Tungl / 4:11
2. Ólafur Arnalds - RGB / 5:02
3. Rival Consoles - Pre / 5:15
4. Jai Paul - Jasmine / 4:11

C Side:

1. Four Tet - Lion (Jamie xx Remix) / 7:09
2. James Blake - Our Love Comes Back / 3:39
3. Spooky Black - Pull / 4:14
4. Sarah Neufeld & Colin Stetson - And still they move / 2:58

D Side:

1. Ólafur Arnalds ft. Arnór Dan - Say My Name / 5:41
2. Kiasmos - Orgoned / 6:00
3. Ólafur Arnalds - Kinesthesia I / 1:46
4. Hjaltalín - Etheral / 6:39
5. David Tennant - Undone / 3:36

About Ólafur Arnalds:

“Born 1986 in the suburban Icelandic town of Mosfellsbær, a few kilometres outside of Reykjavík, composer/performer Ólafur Arnalds has always enjoyed pushing boundaries with both his studio work and live-shows. Since the release of his debut album Eulogy for Evolution in 2007, he has built up a dedicated international following and is well established for his genre-crossing compositions blending classical, pop and ambient/electronica influences to create a unique musical language.

Starting out as drummer for several hardcore/metal bands, Ólafur was asked to write instrumental intros and outros for the album Antigone of German metal band, Heaven Shall Burn. This led to more work in the field of neo-classical strings and piano based music, and ultimately to the release of Eulogy for Evolution (released on Erased Tapes Records). In 2008 he embarked on a tour with fellow Icelanders Sigur Rós.

In 2009 he started a week-long project of composing one track by day, making it immediately available online to his fans. The collection was later officially released under the title Found Songs. He repeated the same experiment in 2011 under the title Living Room Songs.  2009 also saw the premiere of his first ballet Dyad 1909. Choreographed by Wayne McGregor it was inspired by Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition to the South Pole in 1909. His second full-length album ...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness was released in 2010.

His third album For now I am Winter came out in February 2013 and marked the beginning of his partnership with Mercury Classics/Universal Music. Expanding on his previous work the new album was the first to feature a full orchestra and vocals, delivered by Icelandic singer Arnór Dan. The album debuted at No. 1 in the US Classical Charts, was lauded by critics and fans alike and was supported by an extensive tour throughout North America, Europe, East Asia and Australia.” – Mercury Classics

Item description: