ÓLAFUR ARNALDS re:member

For his fourth solo studio record, Ólafur Arnalds has enthusiastically opened his arms (and his beloved pianos) to new technology. Stratus, a piece of software that composer and audio developer Halldór Eldjárn has spent the past two years collaborating with Arnalds to hone, links two self-playing, semi-generative pianos to a central, human-controlled piano. Using algorithms whose complexity will likely make your eyes twitch, the pianos respond to the notes played on the primary piano and then conjure patterns of notes, melodies, and harmonies of their own. This innovation has led to an album of new approaches, new tacks, and new sounds. Whilst Arnalds has utilised this tech to alter his method, he has also opted to incorporate the far-ranging influences, some of which have made appearances in his Trance Frenz and Kiasmos collaborations, in a raw, unfiltered manner which has, inevitably, led to a varied and evocatively emotional release.

Oh… and he also employed Stratus to design the album artwork. Just don’t ask me how.

There is something inherently watery in Ólafur Arnalds’ sounds. That is not to say weak, but dappled and flowing. Of natural rhythms and glinting possibility. It’s also music that is aware of an unruly danger. A fluid threat. And in that lies the trickle of melancholy, of potential fear, that pervades re:member. With every step forward there is hope. But there is also uncertainty, as if the pebbles upon which we tread may slide out, cascade down and send us under the lapping froth. (Jon Bucklan)