Ólafur Arnalds is my of my favourite musical finds of the last couple of months, and his one full studio album to date- Eulogy for Evolution is a wonder- the kind of album which deserves the listener to sit down and apply his full concentration to it. Of course as with all instrumental music, it a boon for me in particular when it comes to revision or reading, music that can inspire you generally without distracting you too much 
Anyways if I could I would post the album cover art now, but my forum skills have just about advanced to posting youtube videos and quoting other posters. (If people want to help here it would be appreciated
)
In any case back to the album. Ólafur mainly makes use of a piano and various string sections for his pieces here (I am not advanced enough to be able to identify which ones ) as well as some horns, and for one song a drum kit and another, an electric guitar. You see, for me anyway, this is not a normal classical album. Most of the songs don't run beyond four or five minutes and there are some clear pop and rock influences in his work.
His music in this album is so powerful at times- grabbing you by the collar and blasting you into infinity, music that can really move you at time. You may laugh at me for saying this, but some of the music in this album sent a chill down my spine even the first time I listened to it. It really is that kind of essential album that I would advise everyone to listen to.
Two songs in particular stand out- 19.53 and 30.55 (for some reason all the songs in the album are given numbers- numbers which don't correlate to the length of time taken) Unfortunately I cannot find 19.53 anywhere on youtube so I can only describe it to you. Its the longest song on the album- 8.06 long, and it filled with shallows and rises- some of the most magnificent rises that I have heard in years. He lets the strings really sound out here, making the ordinary violin almost sound heavy the first time you hear it, it plaintive anguish singing out to you.
30.55 however is on youtube- and a shortened version was released for free on Lastfm recently, and it the most single like song on the album.
[youtube]K6u5D-5LWSg[/youtube]
This song I think bridge the gap between classical and popular/rock music well, as well as being one of its better songs. The quiet peaceful start before the energy starts to build the sound gathers round the song, the clouds rolling in to let loose their shower, before the normalised and yet alien sounds of the drums kick in. As I said- this is not a normal classical album
[youtube]AHtDgMbwF5Y&feature=related[/youtube]
14.40 typifies the general sound of the album a little better, its a more relaxing and yet still interesting song, in which the piano and strings combination emote so much with little wasted movement
So yeah I hope you guys like the sound of those songs and give this guy a listen. He is defiantly one of the lesser known forces in the musical world which deserves more attention. While I am a fan of atmospheric music I never listened to classical styled music before this and it immediately clicked with me, so hopefully it will with you too
Anyways if I could I would post the album cover art now, but my forum skills have just about advanced to posting youtube videos and quoting other posters. (If people want to help here it would be appreciated
)In any case back to the album. Ólafur mainly makes use of a piano and various string sections for his pieces here (I am not advanced enough to be able to identify which ones
) as well as some horns, and for one song a drum kit and another, an electric guitar. You see, for me anyway, this is not a normal classical album. Most of the songs don't run beyond four or five minutes and there are some clear pop and rock influences in his work.His music in this album is so powerful at times- grabbing you by the collar and blasting you into infinity, music that can really move you at time. You may laugh at me for saying this, but some of the music in this album sent a chill down my spine even the first time I listened to it. It really is that kind of essential album that I would advise everyone to listen to.
Two songs in particular stand out- 19.53 and 30.55 (for some reason all the songs in the album are given numbers- numbers which don't correlate to the length of time taken) Unfortunately I cannot find 19.53 anywhere on youtube so I can only describe it to you. Its the longest song on the album- 8.06 long, and it filled with shallows and rises- some of the most magnificent rises that I have heard in years. He lets the strings really sound out here, making the ordinary violin almost sound heavy the first time you hear it, it plaintive anguish singing out to you.
30.55 however is on youtube- and a shortened version was released for free on Lastfm recently, and it the most single like song on the album.
[youtube]K6u5D-5LWSg[/youtube]
This song I think bridge the gap between classical and popular/rock music well, as well as being one of its better songs. The quiet peaceful start before the energy starts to build the sound gathers round the song, the clouds rolling in to let loose their shower, before the normalised and yet alien sounds of the drums kick in. As I said- this is not a normal classical album
[youtube]AHtDgMbwF5Y&feature=related[/youtube]
14.40 typifies the general sound of the album a little better, its a more relaxing and yet still interesting song, in which the piano and strings combination emote so much with little wasted movement
So yeah I hope you guys like the sound of those songs and give this guy a listen. He is defiantly one of the lesser known forces in the musical world which deserves more attention. While I am a fan of atmospheric music I never listened to classical styled music before this and it immediately clicked with me, so hopefully it will with you too
