Ólafur Arnalds

Icelandic composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Ólafur Arnalds built a distinctive profile toward the close of the 2000s by merging radiant neo-classical compositions with understated traces of post-rock, pop, and electronic textures, issuing a string of widely praised recordings on the Erased Tapes imprint such as the 2007 album Eulogy for Evolution and the follow-up ...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness. Beyond establishing the experimental techno partnership Kiasmos alongside Faroese-Icelandic minimalist Janus Rasmussen, he expanded into scoring for cinema and television, receiving recognition for his work on the films Another Happy Day and Gimme Shelter together with the BBC drama Broadchurch. Arnalds simultaneously pursued classical explorations through joint efforts including the 2014 release The Chopin Project with cellist Alice Sara Ott and a continuing sequence of recordings alongside German composer Nils Frahm. Returning to individual projects, he delivered the experimental album re:member in 2018, then issued the introspective, Grammy-nominated some kind of peace in 2020 before supplying the score two years afterward for the psychological thriller miniseries Surface.

Arnalds launched his musical path drumming in various Icelandic metal groups, yet his shift into neo-classical territory occurred largely by chance. When the German band Heaven Shall Burn encountered solo demo pieces he had created, they commissioned piano-and-string contributions for their 2004 album Antigone. Robert Raths, who had just started the Erased Tapes label, heard those tracks, admired Arnalds’ input, and reached out about producing an entire album in the same style. The resulting life-cycle concept record Eulogy for Evolution appeared in 2007, featuring Arnalds chiefly on piano with string quartet support. Three EPs emerged across 2008 and 2009. That same year Arnalds launched the experimental techno duo Kiasmos with Janus Rasmussen of Bloodgroup, whose initial outing was a split EP shared with Erased Tapes labelmate Rival Consoles.

During 2010 Arnalds composed music for the 13-minute short Blinky TM and the feature Órói (Jitters), while also releasing his second full-length album ...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness. His score for Sam Levinson’s Another Happy Day in 2011 markedly raised his visibility, coinciding with further releases such as the 2012 collaborative EP Stare with Nils Frahm and Kiasmos’ Thrown EP. He next entered a partnership with Mercury Classics, which put out For Now I Am Winter in 2013—his first album incorporating vocals—before scoring the BBC series Broadchurch, whose soundtrack followed separately. A digital version of his score for Ronald Krauss’ Gimme Shelter appeared in February 2014, with the physical edition following in April.

Kiasmos released their self-titled debut album in October 2014, succeeded in 2015 by the companion EPs Swept and Looped. That year Arnalds also joined pianist Alice Sara Ott for The Chopin Project on Mercury Classics and sustained work with Frahm on Erased Tapes, yielding the EPs Loon and Life Story/Love and Glory plus the full-length Trance Frendz. Together with the 2012 EP Stare, these projects were gathered as the double-CD Collaborative Works. Arnalds contributed a volume to the LateNightTales mix series in 2016, and the next year saw the release of Broadchurch: The Final Chapter, containing his score for the BBC series’ concluding season.

The full-length re:member emerged in 2018, employing custom software called Stratus that integrated two semi-generative player pianos activated by Arnalds’ live piano performance; it entered Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart at number eight. He earned an Emmy nomination in 2020 for the theme to the Apple TV+ miniseries Defending Jacob. Featuring appearances by British musician Bonobo on the Grammy-nominated track “Loom,” Icelandic singer JFDR, and German singer/songwriter Josin, the intimate solo album some kind of peace arrived on Mercury KX that November. In 2022 Arnalds composed the soundtrack for the psychological thriller miniseries Surface.