Ólafur Arnalds, Sunrise Session III. Olafur Arnalds, composer and pianist; Sandrayati, RAKEL, Salóme Katrín, vocals; with string quartet. Universal Music (EP, digital only). TT: 12.58. Echoes. Þú ert sólin. Ashes. A Dawning.
This is not my usual line of territory: I'm very much a classical guy. But the majors—Universal and Sony/BMG, at least—have been promoting this sort of pop and pop-shaded EP among their regular releases, and I wanted to hear what they were doing. Of course, I made life difficult for the typesetting department by choosing an Icelandic artist!
Recorded in performance, at Mr. Arnalds's home, on last year's winter solstice—the shortest day of the year, and extremely short as far north as Iceland—the selections color his impressions of what the publicity describes as the "soft Icelandic winter light." Aesthetically, his style incorporates both New Age-y elements (quiet dynamics and peaceful upward gestures) and Minimalist techniques, though the short duration keep the repetitions within tolerable bounds. It's not a particularly "classical" sound, nor is it intended to be.
Mr. Arnalds's feathery touch on his solo opening track, Echoes, suggests the soft light extremely effectively. The string quartet joins him in Þú ert sólin, one player at a time , though the first who enters—viola, perhaps?—has an uningratiating straight tone.
One drawback to digital downloads is the absence of an e-booklet with specific credits, and that's the case here. Spotify identifies the singer on Ashes as Sandrayati, the pianist's partner; but the breathy, short-winded phrasing on both the vocal tracks sounds like that of Salóme Katrín on her solo recordings, which also feature the self-overdubbing heard here, in unison, for a diffuse ensemble effect.
This isn't an album for full-on audiophiles. As in Alexis Ffrench's Bach explorations (Sony), which I reviewed here (gulp) three years ago, the piano is closely miked to the point where it loses its distinctive full resonance: this may be an aesthetic preference within this genre. The lead vocalist or vocalists are also right on top of the mic, making them hard to understand—it took me a few phrases to realize they were actually singing in English.
Universal's e-announcement provided me links to the album on every conceivable streaming site, but I imagine this is being offered for sale as an actual download—somewhere.
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