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Track Listings
| 1. Englar Og Dárar |
| 2. Í Nýju Húsi |
| 3. Klara |
| 4. Við Og Við |
| 5. Orfeus Og Evridís (originally by Megas) |
| 6. Vittu Af Mér |
| 7. Moldin |
| 8. Náttsöngur |
| 9. Skjaldborg |
| 10. Ævagömul Orkuþula |
Product Description
Review
Label issues aside – for there always are some – Bunyan’s album dawdled in obscurity for much the same reason that this by her modern-day kindred spirit has: Arnalds’ timid, autumnal folk has such an exquisite pallor and fragile heart that it’ll make you reach for a protective dust sheet with which to wrap it in and tuck safely away.
Thankfully, though, it’s been brought carefully out of the vaults. And just in time, too. Although it precedes Arnalds’ upcoming second album Okidoki by just a few months, Við Og Við, produced by Sigur Rós’s Kjartan Sveinsson, is hewn from a very different time in Arnalds’ life. Similar in theme to Panda Bear’s harrowing Young Prayer, Arnalds went into the studio in 2006 following the death of her father in an attempt to both unleash her grief and capture the raw emotion of that healing process without veering into gauche melodrama (we’re looking askance at you, White Lies).
She does it wonderfully, too. Far less austere than Panda’s howling account, Arnalds’ is a sparse yet paw-soft collection that allows the sun, and her hopefulness, to warm the chilly loneliness of her songs. Throughout, the sometime Múm member picks prettily and insistently on Koto harp, lute and guitar, with accordion and trumpet weaving ghostly between each scrape of the fret-board and lilting melodies that tout an interest in folk music that reaches far beyond her own isle to Scotland, Japan and the Middle East.
The obvious references for such honest, unaffected melancholy are Bunyan and – thanks to a high, clear voice that gets confused for childish rather than alluringly guttural – Joanna Newsom, although there’s nothing stately or grandiose about Arnalds. In songs such as Klara, she plays and sings with a rich, comely earthiness rather than wrist-twirling, fairy-informed whimsy and, even without translation, these are wonderfully comforting songs.
With a soon-to-arrive second album (inspired, we’re told, by the emotional, melon-twisting experience of childbirth) it would seem Iceland has another fine export to help boost its economy. --Chris Parkin
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
Olof Arnalds is another one to add to that list. I was a fan of her work with Múm, so had to check this out, and I've been quite bowled over to be honest.
Her voice is stunning, and although she sings in Icelandic, the lyrics have a melody of their own. How the words sound, in her case, seems just as important as what she's saying.
The music revolves around her voice, and folky, sparse acoustic guitar. And the strings on some tracks (played by Amiina, another wonderful Icelandic band), are just gorgeous.
It's probably one of my albums of the year, and one that will continue to entrance me for many years to come.
Highly, highly recommended to all!!!
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