Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.10.2018, Blaðsíða 28

The trademark of Ólafur Arnald’s mu-
sic can best be described by the feelings
it evokes: stirring, emotional, and per-
fect in its simplicity. With delicate pi-
ano, poised string arrangements and a
deft understanding of drama, his work
merges the traditions of classical music
with contemporary trends.
The other trademark of his career
has undoubtedly been ambition. Never
content to sit in any one box, Ólafur
has continually pushed himself with
unusual collaborations and thought-
ful concepts. He’s been a rock drum-
mer, become a techno star, won a TV
soundtrack BAFTA, and in November,
he even sent one of his compositions
to space. The culmination of his talent
and drive will come in the widely-antic-
ipated release of his album ‘re:member’
on August 24th.
Expanding the creative
process
“Re:member has been a long time in the
making,” Ólafur says over the phone,
his voice tinged with both excitement
and exhaustion. He’s in Lithuania with
Kiasmos, his techno project with Janus
Rasmussen, as part of their summer
festival tour. He pauses, as if not sure
where to start. When he begins again,
he sounds tentative, but once he dives
into the specifics of the album, the
weariness fades into pure joy.
The album is centred around an
innovative concept. For ‘re:member,’
Ólafur collaborated with a software
programmer to employ two self-play-
ing pianos in the creation of his work.
“The software makes the self-playing
pianos play with an algorithm based
on the grand piano that I am playing,”
Ólafur explains. “This idea expands
the creative process. How can I play
the piano in a different way? How can I
change the relationship I have with the
piano in order to get different results?”
It’s a tricky method, but one with
an undeniably beautiful outcome. The
second single from the album—a col-
laboration with SOHN titled ‘unfold’—
is an expansive and mellow track that’s
both cleansing and energising. On
other tracks, in typical Ólafur style, he
sought out more unusual collaborators,
such as beatmaker BNGRBOY, known
for his work with rapper GKR.
“I felt like I needed another way to
break out of my comfort zone,” Ólafur
says. While not all of their collaborative
experiments ended up on the album,
Ólafur emphasised that his work with
BNGRBOY helped to evolve the wider
sound and purpose of his new work.
Discomfort zone
Pushing himself out of his comfort
zone has become one of Ólafur’s main
goals in making music. “That’s a big
part of it for me,” he says. “To be honest,
it’s so easy to write it off as piano mu-
sic. The concept of it
can so quickly become
boring or even clichéd,
so I have a need to take
each project out of the
box, somehow.” He
laughs. “So you can’t
so easily just put it
on the Spotify playl-
ist that plays in the
background when you
study. I needed to be-
come something big-
ger than that.”
The idea of that
easy listening Spotify
playlist seems to loom
in Ólafur’s psyche. He
understands that lis-
teners might immediately lump him
into the neo-classical genre and leave
him there. This goes some way to ex-
plaining his professional choices. If he
constantly seeks new ways to challenge
himself, he’s not only pushing his own
musical boundaries—he’s making lis-
teners rethink their own.
The irrelevance of genre
For Ólafur, the neoclassical classifica-
tion is irrelevant and even reductive.
He doesn’t see himself as a member of
any musical genre, but rather as part
of a new movement of creating, one
that revolves around
the philosophy behind
the music rather than
the sound.
“In that neoclassical
bracket, we don’t even
make the same music.
It’s a genre that isn’t
really a genre,” Ólafur
says, before pausing.
While he doesn’t see
himself as musically
related to the others
he’s often grouped
with, he does see a com-
mon thread between
them: that of the desire
to break out of restric-
tive labels and rules. “A
lot of people are trying to break out of
that box, especially with classical music
and its struggles.”
Quiet revolution
This newfound attitude behind creating
is directly related, Ólafur explains, to
Words:
Hannah Jane
Cohen
Photos:
Benjamin
Hardman
The globe-trotting composer
Culture
Total
Transcendance

Ólafur Arnalds talks programming pianos, subverting genres and his new album

Info
Olafur’s
new album
“re:member”
is released by
MercuryKX on
August 24th.
sjavargillid.is
SKÓLAVÖRÐUSTÍG 14 | 101 REYKJAVÍK | +354 571 1100 | SJAVARGRILLID.IS
“How can I
play the piano
in a different
way? How can
I change the
relationship I
have with the
piano in order
to get different
results?”