Ólafur Arnalds
...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness

Olafur Arnalds is a talent, any of his productions would be enough to be captivated by such compositional skill. Intrigued by his latest production "...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness," whose cover portrays a splendid midnight sun, without much ado, all it took was to relax, to lie down, for me to close my eyes and surrender to a play of melodies that seem to spring from the hands of Euterpe, as if they have always existed, as if describing their immense enchantment upon mere listening were simple triviality, describing what has always been, a beauty as simple as it is complex, like the melodies that Satie knew how to discern from nature to gift man with their aura of beauty.

The whole thing outlines itself among ambient and classic sounds, which narrate a land so distant yet surreal and at times so inaccessible, living the unease of a climate so unreasonable yet complex.
Uneasy like the oceans that break their waves on the steep coasts during the cold seasons of an ashen Icelandic winter, and so those waters seem to be painted with the colors of unpredictable days, which so characterize these lands.

An album of great depth for such a young artist, right from the first notes of Þú Ert Sólin continuing with Þú Ert Jörðin whose elegance and fluidity produce in their aspirations the wonders of Tunglið; as if they are captured by the first lights of dawn.
Melancholic sounds at times that smell of ice refracting the weak rays of a morning sun, wishing to start the splendid showcase of a mother aware of the gifts of a childless daughter but of immense beauty.

A rare immensity represented in Loftið Verður Skyndilega Kalt and in Kjurrt where the head of Rifstangi, just three kilometers from the Arctic Circle, wants to unveil from a simple height an event as rare as systematic in that midnight sun where the event leads to being in a middle land.

A middle land where the sole sonic ambitions of Gleypa Okkur and Hægt, Kemur Ljósíð seem skilled at extolling the splendid contrasts between glaciers and geysers surrounded by immense green expanses under a sky that seems the only one capable of generating auroras while streams of hot water make those splendid waterfalls antithetical to the cold glaciers that besiege them.

I wouldn't have the words to describe Undan Hulu, perhaps at the beginning of the review when I spoke of beauty and melodic play in the hands of Euterpe I was unconsciously referring to her, the true pearl of the entire project. It seems that everything concludes with Þau Hafa Sloppið Undan Þunga Myrk, almost as if awakening from that experience and from that cathartic journey, leaving behind, as in a crane shot from above, these lands that slowly move away from us.

UUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!