Ólafur Arnalds (; born 3 November 1986) is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and producer from Mosfellsbær, Iceland. He mixes strings and piano with loops and beats, a sound ranging from ambient/electronic to atmospheric pop. He is also the former drummer for

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and

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

bands Fighting Shit, Celestine, and others. In 2009, Ólafur also formed an experimental techno project, entitled Kiasmos, with Janus Rasmussen from the Icelandic electro-pop band Bloodgroup, announcing his electronic debut album in 2014. In 2013, Ólafur composed the score for the 2013 ITV series

Broadchurch ''Broadchurch'' is a British crime drama television series broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV for List of Broadchurch episodes, three series between 2013 and 2017. It was created by Chris Chibnall, who acted as an executive producer and wrote a ...

, for which he won the 2014

BAFTA TV Craft Award The British Academy Television Craft Awards is an accolade presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), a charitable organisation established in 1947, which: "supports, promotes and develops the art forms of the moving imag ...

for Best Original Music. In 2020, Ólafur was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music, for his title theme to

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

series Defending Jacob. In 2021, he was nominated in two categories at the

64th Annual Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

. "Loom (feat. Bonobo)" was nominated in the Best Dance/Electronic Recording category and "The Bottom Line" was nominated in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals category. Both songs appear on his fifth studio album ''Some Kind of Peace'' (2020).

History

Early life

Ólafur's grandmother introduced him to the music of Frédéric Chopin from an early age.

Early career (2004–2007)

In 2004, Ólafur composed and recorded the intro and two outros for tracks on the album ''

Antigone In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & R ...

'' by German metal band

Heaven Shall Burn Heaven Shall Burn are a German extreme metal band from Saalfeld, formed in 1995. The band consists of vocalist Marcus Bischoff, guitarists Maik Weichert and Alexander Dietz, bassist Eric Bischoff and drummer Christian Bass. They are currently s ...

. On his Facebook page, he described how he got to know them: "I was playing drums in a hardcore band and we were supporting the German metal band Heaven Shall Burn on their Icelandic tour. Being a huge fan, I gave them a demo with some very overly dramatic prog-rock songs I had been making at home – it was not so classic like this but had some badly computerized strings and piano in it. A few months later they contacted me asked if I would write some intros and outros for their new album, but only with the piano/strings elements – So I wrote my first classical pieces. Their album was a big success in Europe and a few months later I got a phone call from a label asking 'would you be interested in making a full album with compositions like this?' I hadn't really considered continuing writing music like this, but said yes."

''Eulogy For Evolution'' and ''Variations of Static'' (2007–2008)

On 12 October 2007, Ólafur's first solo album ''

Eulogy for Evolution ''Eulogy for Evolution'' is Icelandic producer Ólafur Arnalds' first studio album, released on 1 October 2007 by Erased Tapes Records. With the album, Arnalds set out to document the journey of life, from birth to death. The album was reissue ...

'' was released. It was followed by the EP ''Variations of Static'' in 2008. In the same year, Ólafur toured with Sigur Rós and his second collaboration with Heaven Shall Burn, the album '' Iconoclast (Part 1: The Final Resistance)'', was released. He is also reported to have sold out The Barbican Hall in London.

''Found Songs'' and ''Dyad 1909'' (2009)

In April 2009, Ólafur composed and released a track daily for seven days, instantly making each track available within 24 hours fro
foundsongs.erasedtapes.com
The collection of tracks was entitled ''Found Songs''. The first track was released on 13 April. In October 2009, the ballet '' Dyad 1909'' premiered with a score composed by Ólafur which was also released as an EP. Also in 2009, Ólafur formed an experimental techno project, Kiasmos, with Janus Rasmussen from the Icelandic electro-pop band Bloodgroup. They released a joint EP with Ryan Lee West of the

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

project Rival Consoles entitled ''65/Milo''.

Second studio album and ''Living Room Songs'' (2010–2011)

In April 2010, Ólafur released a new album entitled ''...And They Have Escaped The Weight of Darkness''. During 2010 Ólafur also went on a well-received Asian Tour organised by China-based promoter

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. On 3 October 2011, Ólafur started another seven-day composition project similar to ''Found Songs'', this one entitled ''Living Room Songs''. The tracks were made available a
livingroomsongs.olafurarnalds.com/
each day throughout the week. The project was released as an album on 23 December 2011. 2011 also saw the release of Ólafur's remix of Mr Fogg's track "Keep Your Teeth Sharp" on the EP of the same name.

''Another Happy Day'', ''Two Songs For Dance''... (2012)

In 2012, Ólafur announced a new partnership with the

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

label Mercury Classics. 2012 saw four releases from Ólafur; his score for

Sam Levinson Samuel Levinson (born January 8, 1985) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the son of Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson. In 2010, he received his first writing credit as a co-writer for the action comedy film '' Operation: Endg ...

's film '' Another Happy Day''; an EP entitled ''Two Songs For Dance''; the second EP from his experimental techno project Kiasmos and another EP entitled ''Stare'' with German pianist

Nils Frahm Nils Frahm (born 20 September 1982) is a German musician, composer, and record producer based in Berlin. He is known for combining classical and electronic music and for an unconventional approach to the piano in which he mixes a grand piano, upr ...

. Also in 2012, his song "Allt varð hljótt" was used in the score and the soundtrack for the film ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set 6 ...

''. "Til enda" was used in a trailer for the 2012 film ''

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''.

''For Now I Am Winter'' and further scores (2013–2014)

Ólafur released his third studio album entitled ''For Now I Am Winter'' in February 2013. Four tracks featured vocals from Arnór Dan of the Icelandic band Agent Fresco. This was the first time Ólafur incorporated vocals into any of his released work. More recently, he composed the score and end-credits track for the 2013 ITV series ''

'' (again featuring the vocals of Arnór Dan), for which he won the 2014

for Best Original Music. Ólafur also composed the score for Ron Krauss' film ''

Gimme Shelter "Gimme Shelter" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones. Released as the opening track from band's 1969 album ''Let It Bleed''. The song covers topics of war, murder, rape and fear. It features prominent guest vocals by American singe ...

''. ''For Now I Am Winter'' was used in the pilot of the 2013 US TV show ''

Masters of Sex ''Masters of Sex'' is an American period drama television series that premiered on September 29, 2013, on Showtime. It was developed by Michelle Ashford and loosely based on Thomas Maier's biography '' Masters of Sex''. Set in the 1950s through ...

''. Ólafur Arnalds has been involved with various other projects and his music appears in many films, television shows and advertisements. His songs have been featured on ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and ha ...

'' in multiple seasons. He also spoke at length on the subject of fan-submitted art in the 2011 documentary film ''Press Pause Play''. In 2014 Ólafur announced his electronic debut album in collaboration with Janus Rasmussen under his project Kiasmos.

''The Chopin Project'' and further projects (2015)

In 2015 Ólafur collaborated with German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott on ''The Chopin Project'', which was a release to introduce an exciting new take on the music of Frédéric Chopin. Arnalds chose a program of Chopin works to create an emotional arc throughout the album and then composed linking sections for string quintet, piano, and synthesizer based on the atmosphere and motifs of those pieces. ''The Chopin Project'' began as a dedication to Ólafur’s grandmother, in some respects. Out of respect for her, a younger, metal-loving Ólafur would sit with her to listen to Chopin’s work whenever they had visited one another. At her deathbed, Ólafur said “she was just lying there, old and sick, but very happy and proud. And I sat with her and we listened to a Chopin sonata. Then I kissed her goodbye and left. She passed away a few hours later.” In 2015, Ólafur's collaborations with Nils Frahm, ''Life Story Love and Glory'' (a completely improvised recording) and ''Loon'', were collected on a double CD entitled ''Collaborative Works'' along with 2012's ''Stare'' and a live improvisational film entitled ''Trance Frendz - An evening with Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm''. 2015 also saw the full release of his work on ''

''.

''Island Songs'' (2016)

In June 2016 Ólafur announced his ''Island Songs'' project, which would involve him working with director Baldvin Z and travelling to seven different locations in Iceland over seven weeks, collaborating with seven different artists. Each week the audio and video for each track would be released, culminating in the final track, "Doria", being released on 8 August 2016. List of tracks with collaborators: #"Árbakkinn" (ft. Einar Georg) #"1995" (ft. Dagný Arnalds) #"Raddir" (ft. South Iceland Chamber Choir) #"Öldurót" (ft.

Atli Örvarsson Atli Örvarsson (; born 7 July 1970) is an Icelandic film score composer. Atli's credits include composing and orchestrating music for some of Hollywood's biggest projects, including the Pirates of the Caribbean series, ''Angels & Demons'', '' ...

& SinfoniaNord) #"Dalur" (ft. Brasstríó Mosfellsdals) #"Particles" (ft. Nanna Bryndís from Of Monsters and Men) #"Doria" "Particles" ft. Nanna Bryndís from Of Monsters and Men was premiered on

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

's Beats 1 show on 1 August 2016, making it the first classical track featured on that station. In 2016, Ólafur and Quarashi frontman Sölvi Blöndal founded the record label Alda Music, which was acquired by INgrooves in January 2022. Alda owned the rights to nearly 80 percent of all music released in Iceland.

''re:member'' (2018)

Ólafur's fourth official solo album, ''Re:member'' was released in August 2018. The album featured his new musical system called Stratus. The Stratus Pianos are two self-playing, semi-generative player pianos which are triggered by a central piano played by Arnalds. The custom-built software was born out of two years of work by the composer and audio developer, Halldor Eldjarn. As Arnalds plays a note on the piano, two different notes are generated by Stratus, creating unexpected harmonies and surprising melodic sequences. The algorithms generated from Stratus were also used to create the album artwork. In an interview with Sound of Boston, Arnalds explains that the artist, Torsten Posselt from FELD studios, used the Stratus software as a starting point and made his own software that translated the same MIDI signals used for the music. Each dot corresponds to a piano note in the title track: 88 fields correspond to 88 notes; the thicker the dot, the higher the frequency of that note being played. He composed the main theme for the Apple + mini series

Defending Jacob (miniseries) ''Defending Jacob'' is an American crime drama miniseries, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by William Landay, produced by Apple TV+. The series was created and written by Mark Bomback and directed by Morten Tyldum. It stars Chris Eva ...

''some kind of peace'' (2020)

His fifth studio album, ''Some Kind of Peace,'' was released on 6 November 2020. The album features guest appearances from Bonobo, Josin, and JFDR. "Loom (feat. Bonobo)" and "The Bottom Line" were nominated for Grammy Awards.

Personal life

Ólafur's cousin

Ólöf Arnalds Ólöf Arnalds (born 4 January 1980) is an Icelandic singer/songwriter and indie musician who has been active within the Icelandic music scene since the early 2000s. She was a touring member of múm for five years from 2003 before launching ...

is also a well-known singer/songwriter. Ólafur is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

. Ólafur's favourite classical composers are Frédéric Chopin, David Lang,

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

and Arvo Pärt. Ólafur lives in Iceland but also has a home in Indonesia.

Notable awards and nominations

Awards

* BAFTA awards (2014), Best Original Music, for ''Broadchurch'' * Televisual Bulldog Awards (2014), Best Music, for ''Broadchurch'' * The Edda Icelandic Film Awards (2015), Best music, for ''Vonarstræti'' * Icelandic Music Awards (2021), Best Film and TV Score, for ''Defending Jacob''

Notable nominations

* Emmy Awards (2020), Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music, for ''Defending Jacob'' * Grammy Awards (2022), Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals, for "The Bottom Line" * Grammy Awards (2022), Best Dance/Electronic Recording, for "Loom (feat. Bonobo)"

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' (2007) * ''...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness'' (2010) * ''For Now I Am Winter'' (2013) * ''Island Songs'' (2016) * '' re:member'' (2018) * ''some kind of peace'' (2020)

Extended plays

* ''Variations of Static'' - EP (2008) * ''Only the Winds'' - EP (2013) * ''The Invisible EP'' - EP (2021)

Singles

* "Two Songs for Dance" (2012) * "Kinesthesis I" (2016) * "RGB" (2016) * "Zeit" (2021) * "Saudade" (2021)

Collections

* ''Found Songs'' (2009) * ''Living Room Songs'' (2011) * ''Island Songs'' (2016)

Soundtracks

* ''Dyad 1909'' (2009) * ''Blinky TM'' (2010) * ''Jitters'' (2010) * '' Another Happy Day'' (2012) * ''

'' (2013) * ''Vonarstræti/Life in a Fishbowl'' (2014) * ''The Invisible Front'' (2014) * ''

'' (2015) ** "Not Alone" - Single (2015) from ''Broadchurch'' * '' Defending Jacob'' (2020) * '' Surface (2022 TV series)'' (2022) * '' Moonhaven'' (2022)

Collaborations

* ''A Hundred Reasons'' - Single (2010) with Haukur Heiðar Hauksson (lead singer of

Dikta Dikta is an indie rock band from Iceland. They have released five albums thus far. Biography In its present incarnation, the group began in 1999. They played in the Icelandic band competition Músíktilraunir in 2000 and were finalists. Dikta's f ...

) * ''Stare'' - EP (2012) with

* ''The Chopin Project'' - LP (2015) with Alice Sara Ott * ''So Far'' - Single (2015) with Arnór Dan * ''Life Story / Love and Glory'' - Single (2015) with

* ''Loon'' - EP (2015) with

* ''Trance Frendz'' - LP (2016) with

* ''Say My Name'' - Single (2016) with Arnór Dan * ''Unfold'' - Single (2018) with Sohn * ''Patience'' - Single (2019) with Rhye * ''Back To The Sky'' - Single (2022) with JFDR * ''Loom'' - Single (2022) with Bonobo * ''Oceans'' - Single (2020) with RY X * ''Colorblind'' - Single (2022) with RY X * ''Light of Day'' - Single (2022) with Odesza

Mixtapes