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Artist Interviews
Q&A: Olafur Arnalds
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 30 June 2010
Hailing from the Icelandic town of Mosfellsbær, Olafur Arnarlds may now be classified as a ‘neo-classical’ artist, but he previously drummed for hardcore/metal bands Fighting Shit and Celestine. His solo work is quite different, exploring the crossover between classical and pop music, mainly by mixing chamber strings and piano with edgy beats and discreet electronics.
Arnarld’s previous album ‘Eulogy For Evolution’ and EP ‘Variations Of Static’ have won acclaim from both contemporary and classical music types, while his ‘Found Songs’ project last year – in which he recorded a song a day over seven days and made them immediately available via Twitter – proves how much he likes to innovate.
Album number two, called ‘…And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness’, is just out via Erased Tapes. Tomorrow (1 Jul) he will play at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, playing the album in it’s entirety with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra. Ahead of that brilliant sounding concert, we spoke to Olafur to ask the Same Six.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
My parents sent me to music school when I was like five. I didn’t like the piano, because it wasn’t cool. So I turned to drums, which were much cooler, obviously! Though I later started playing piano secretly, on the side, and started writing more classical music when I was 14 or so, because I got really into movie scores and wanted to be a film composer.
Q2 What inspired your new album?
Life, relentless touring, hardships – but mostly getting over that hardship – that there is always light after the darkness. Hence the title.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating an album?
Well, for this one I wrote the songs over quite a long period of time. I think the oldest one is from 2007, the newest from 2009. I just wanted to get the right songs for me to be able to shape the album conceptually as I wanted to. Then I make demos of all the songs, and put them together and listen to it for a while, to see if they make sense together, and if I can create a total storyline throughout the album. Then I go into the studio and spend way too much time there making sure every detail is perfect… Think it was over 1000 hours this time… haha.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Mostly older classical artists, the creators of the theories we use in contemporary music today… Bach, Chopin, etc… But obviously everything I listen to, of course, influences me in some way or another, and in that sense – I listen mostly to just the common indie music, whatever is hip at the moment I guess…
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Don’t try to understand too much, just make up your own stories behind the music.
Q6 What are your ambitions for the new album and for the future?
I really hope this album will broaden my audience spectrum, make me able to play concerts for even more people and inspire more people. That’s all I want with this stuff really… to inspire…
MORE>> www.myspace.com/olafurarnalds
