Ólafur Arnalds
The Icelandic producer, composer and innovator on his latest LP and cuttingedge new software tools
Given his ambient approach to music-making, it’s hard to believe that Icelandic composer and multiinstrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds started his career as a hardcore drummer. Having created a demo of “badly computerised” strings and piano for a German metal band, he was requested to further develop his ideas in that direction, igniting a career in atmospheric classical pop signified by Arnalds’ deeply emotive arrangement of strings, piano, loops and beats.
Arnalds’ Satie-inspired debut album Found Songs (2009) really captured the public’s imagination, followed by further critically acclaimed solo works, the experimental techno project
Kiasmos and soundtrack scores for the hit TV show Broadchurch and more recent crime drama Defending Jacob. Operating from his newly built studio in Reykjavik, Arnalds’ latest album Some Kind Of Peace ruminates on his personal and creative growth while employing his ground-breaking Stratus piano software.
Is the piano the starting point for all of your compositions or would that be too obvious a conclusion to draw?
“I’d say that it’s equal parts piano, electronics and strings, but with this latest album it was not usually piano as the record is very string-heavy and that was often the first thing that came to mind. I’m also using my Stratus software, which I’m finding to be an inspiration machine.”
Do you have techniques to counter writer’s block or is that something you haven’t encountered yet?
“I literally have Brian Eno strategies stuck on my desk and use them, but I’ve been thinking about writer’s block a lot over the last couple of years and what it really is. In most cases, I’ve realised that when you’re in the studio and start to think that nothing is going to happen, the moment where you get that feeling of giving up is when creativity is just around the corner. The hardest part of climbing a mountain is just before the peak, right? Once you get there, you’ll see in all directions and things become clearer. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years.”
Would you also recommend producers move away from making music for a period of time to recharge their batteries?
“Absolutely – I think that’s underrated. We can spend half of the year in the studio trying to write music but what are you actually writing about? If you’re writing about being in the studio writing music then that’s not a very inspiring circle to be in. If you’re a full-time musician and you can afford it, take a year off and do something else – your career’s not going to disappear.”
Artists may be fearful of losing their audience or feel pressurised from their label. Have you wrestled with that?
“We all have the idea that if we go away for a year our audience won’t be there when we get back. I find that most producers are surprised to even have an audience because nobody expected to be successful when they started making music. We’re just grateful that someone is listening and it always feels like such a delicate thing that could disappear at any moment. I definitely have that fear and it’s sometimes hard to say no to big commissions or film projects because you feel that big offer might be the last one you’re going to get. But this is totally wrong; the audience has way more patience than artists and record labels think.”
You’ve mentioned your Stratus software just now, but you’ve also created Ólafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions?
“The Chamber Evolutions project was very interesting and fun. The way I play strings is very harmonic – an airy sound that’s so soft it’s almost silent. Sometimes they don’t even really sound like string instruments. There are two main elements to the software pack. One is a grid built on an EMS Synthi matrix, so depending on where you place your pins on the grid when you play within a certain keyboard range the strings will play differently. The samples are very long, so you can hold a major chord and it will be constantly evolving depending on the range you play from a particular note. Also included is the ‘wave’, which is based on very simple string sample waves that start from nothing and move in a dynamic arc – like a hairpin.”
Was the software primarily created for yourself?
“It’s something that I felt was missing from samples in general and is very hard to recreate with sample libraries because the sample you’re using might be cross-fading between five different velocities in a few seconds, which is not going to sound good. I just wanted to sample the whole wave and create a collection of waves to work with for when I need that type of sound.”
Was recording the samples a very complex process to get right?
“We spent three days at AIR Studios in London recording one note at a time with a small band of players. It was a very laborious process that tested people’s patience, but by the end of the third day everybody was in an almost meditative, transcendental state [laughs]. It was quite amazing at the end how focused everyone was on playing one note and trying to get it exactly right.”
Does your more recent Stratus Pianos software run along similar lines?
“It’s similar to the string textures idea. Stratus generates textures based on your note input, so if you play a C major chord you’re going to have a generative texture being played by the piano. Initially, I wanted to control real, physical pianos that had MIDI triggers in them so that the keys move on their own. That would have made the whole programming behind it very