Ólafur Arnalds

I’m not quite sure what it is with Iceland that inspires such original and often devastatingly beautiful music. Björk, Sigur Pós, Emilia Torrini… they all have that chilly, yet rich sound that makes you picture the grey weather, open landscapes, intricate sounding language and medieval literature that it is associate with.

Now another Icelandic name has emerged, that of neo-classical musician Ólafur Arnalds. So far over 400,000 people have watched the fan-made video for “Ljósið” (which is fantastic, by the way), and more than 100,000 have downloaded his EP Found Songs, which is now getting an official release on Erased Tapes.

Ólafur’s intentions with his music are quite clear: “The classical scene is kind of closed to people who haven’t been studying music all their lives. I would like to bring my classical influence to the people who don’t usually listen to this kind of music…open people’s minds.”

So don’t let the “neo-classical” tag scare you off; Ólafur’s is simply too haunting to be missed.

Found Songs will be out November 10.