… And they have escaped the weight of darkness --- Olafur Arnalds --- 2010 (Self-released, I think)
This is a little outside my comfort zone, as they say. Icelandic pianist and multi-instrumentalist Olafur Arnalds began his music life as a drummer with metal band Celestine and others before branching out on his own and broadening his musical base, releasing his first solo album in 2007. If you include EPs this is his fifth recording, but as a full album it's only his second. It's all instrumental, and based mainly around piano and sometimes cello, though with lots of other influences thrown into the mix.
Don't ask me what the title means, though it would appear to be some sort of quote as it starts with “and”; the fact that all the titles of the songs are in Icelandic doesn't help either, as there's supposed to be some sort of story running through the album, but not being able to read Icelandic I can't tell you what that story is, nor indeed what the titles mean. But in the final analysis that's not as important as the music itself, so let's get to that.
It opens with “Bu ert solin”*, a nice slow relaxed acoustic piano melody with cello slipping in and adding its mournful voice as the piano gets a little more solid, violins joining the chorus, and in fact it runs so seamlessly into “Bu ert joroain” that I scarcely realised I was no longer listening to the opening track. It's very relaxing, very ambient, the strings taking more of an active role now, the piano mostly a background, or indeed grounding instrument for the melody. However, “Tunglia”, up next, relinquishes control back to the piano, with the strings this time waiting on the keys, another slow relaxed melody that would probably make perfect music to read by, fall asleep to or calm you down after a hectic or bad day.
Halfway through, this starts to get a little more insistent, with percussion coming in and the strings picking up a little speed and getting more intense, a fuller sound allover, and then it all slows to a graceful pace for the solo cello ending, taking us into a piano melody on “Loftio verdur skyndilega kalt”, with just small touches from the violin and cello framing the edges of the piano music, everything again slow and sedate, a little mournful, a little morose perhaps but shot through with a vein of hope. The cello takes this piece to its slow conclusion and then hands over to the piano again for “Kjurrt”, another slow, stately piece with violins and cello just adding their own extra weight to the music at the right time, the piano very much the centrepiece here.
“Gleypa okkur” starts out on a soft yet somehow brighter piano line, cello and violin coming in quite early this time around, as does bass and drums, moving at a more uptempo pace than we've heard on this album to date, and the addition of the rhythm section changes the piece entirely, making it somehow less bleak and depressing and a little more uplifting. Halfway through the volume of all instruments increases, the added punch of the percussion filling out the music now, and it becomes more consistent, with what sounds like electric guitar --- possibly synthesised --- chiming in and creating its own little counter-melody, making this so far the most varied piece on the album.The drums and bass fall away in the last minute, leaving only the synth-guitar, and finally, the piano and cello to usher the song to its end.
Soft, gentle piano is then back for “Haegt, kemur ljosio”, with the faintest of strings which soon begin to swell and accompany the keys, the piano getting a little harder and the tempo increasing as the cello and violins surge forward, almost overtaking the entire tune, then a little bass finds its way in, and it's quickly followed by percussion which seems out of step, but in fact melds quite wonderfully with the overall tune, changing it and yet allowing it to remain the same, until the whole thing bursts out in an explosion of sound, light and colour like a firework expending itself high above the city. A great sense of joy and relief comes through in this piece, and it really changes the whole shape of the music.
Things go back to slow and sedate through for “Undan hulu”, with lonely soft piano and cello, and the album closes, all too soon, on “Bau haffa sloppio undanbunga myrkursins”, more piano and cello though a little more upbeat and solid, with bass filling in and the overall tempo raised a little more. Some nice percussion and drum loops open up the track and afford it something of a new identity, with a little brassy flurry at the end.
As far as ambient music goes, I find I'm feeling my way and discovering both artistes that appeal to me, and some who don't. This definitely falls into the former category. I love the way Olafur uses the barest minimum of instrumentation but yet manages to make his music sound both interesting and complete. I'll certainly be listening to more of his catalogue before long, though at the moment this is the first of his I have tried. It's left a lasting impression.
TRACKLISTING
1. Bu ert solin
2. Bu ert joroin
3. Tunglio
4. Loftio verdur skyndilega kalt
5. Kjurrt
6. Gleypa okkur
7. Haegt, kemur ljosio
8. Undan hulu
9. Bau hafa sloppio undanbunga myrkursins
* = As all these titles are in Icelandic, and they don't use the same character sets as we do, I've interpreted as best I can and taken my best guess as to what certain letters --- which don't exist in our alphabet --- are best translated as. In other words, a letter that looks like a b could be a d, but I've done the best I can. I may have got it totally wrong, but I can't install an Icelandic character set just for this review, and anyway, I don't know how it would display on the web.