Ólafur Arnalds- re:member

In some ways music can be likened to an encyclopedia, not as a collection of useful information and facts, rather it documents the emotional zeitgeist of society at a specific point of time. Have you ever been asked which decade you would have most liked to grow up in? Mine is a close tie between the swinging sixties and the roaring twenties… but when pondering the possibilities, I can’t help bringing up images immortalized in film, political and social movements and most importantly the music of an era. Perhaps Ólafur Arnald’s- re:member is the ‘antimusic’ of this time? We are imminently crashing into 2020 with all the uncertainty, confusion and frenzy of a population that faces unprecedented challenges to our continued success as a species and much of modern music reflects that. It is confused, uncertain and frenzied… ‘re:member’ is not.

The record is a series of instrumental recordings and sound manipulations including piano, strings and electronic beats. That’s the technical explanation of course however, this is a record written with emotion and feeling at its core. Arnalds can be described as a cross over artist of sorts, a film composer and original artist from the ’land of ice and fire’, Iceland. He has written a series of solo albums and also composed for tv and film including ‘Broadchurch’, a popular series in the UK.

I first became interested in his work by watching a break down of the techniques he used with the track ‘Brot’ on YouTube. In it, he details how originally he started arranging the track using sample libraries from the company ‘Spitfire Audio’ before re-recording all of the original string arrangements with live players at ‘Air Studios’ in London. ‘Spitfire Audio’ has created some exceptional sample libraries that many highly regarded film composers use, including Hans Zimmer and for further viewing, I highly recommend ‘Christian Henson’s’ vlog on YouTube where he details his work on different projects and with ‘Spitfire’ themselves. In Arnald’s video, he goes on to stipulate that whilst samples are fantastic creative tools that generate inspiration, in his opinion they cannot quite match the ‘live’ performance aspect of multiple players in a room together. On this point, I entirely agree.

A not so closely guarded secret of film composers is that they use the emotional impact of film as a platform to write music in an effort to enhance the delivery of a piece of film or tv. An entirely different set of creative pillars compared to composing original material for an Album but when listening to ‘re:member’, it feels like a film score…but also more. Through incredible attention to detail and a focus on the performance, Arnalds reaches different territories with his composition. The touch of fingers on piano keys, sustain pedals being pressed and released, the rosin of the players bow creating the friction on a cello or violin string and the silence of the rooms they were recorded in. Instead of being able to use film as a creative stepping stone, it feels like Arnalds has shone a spotlight on the players ‘behind the scenes’ and in doing so, has created the musical anchor that grounds this record. The narrative is one of peace, of purity and of beauty in performance, an ode to the players.

Highlights on the record for me include ‘Saman’, with its velvety piano sound and rolling chord progressions that bring images of Icelandic mountains to mind. ‘Brot’s, almost diatonic voicings, played on strings with an awe-inspiring subtlety and intention. The ghostly ‘Undir’, starting with a section of strings that sound ethereal and ‘Nyepi’, the closing track of the record. The Album is available from tidal in MQA format and I highly recommend listening through a good quality DAC. ‘Re:member’ will be an album that I revisit for its wonderful collection of sounds and enthralling performances, it is a series of captivating recordings that connect you with the magic of human performance, whether it is an Album that will define a decade remains to be seen but for now, it provides a clean lungful of Icelandic air for the soul.