aaamusic | On 14, Jun 2010

Icelandic singer-songwriter. How many people will immediately think Björk and then go away to watch that crazy video on Youtube? Well, please don’t, because I assure you, Ólöf Arnalds is a very worthy, totally different, artist capable of the purest sound you could hope to hear. Find her music, and give your eardrums a hug.

Her new single, ‘Innudir Skinni’ is in possession of a sound so charming I was expecting my poster of The Crow to start smiling as I played it. I can’t understand the lyrics (being in Icelandic) but the music speaks volumes, an innocent yet sensual description via the medium of finger-picked guitar of a better world. Smell the clean breeze, feel the sunshine, it’s that kind of warm-hearted acoustic pop; simple yet wonderfully effective.

The B-side is a cover of Arthur Russell’s ‘Close My Eyes’, and is a softly swaying acoustic ballad to caress that part of you that still believes in beauty with its melancholy acoustic chords and vocals as clear as a window into the soul.  It sounds so natural coming from Arnalds that unless you were told, you wouldn’t suspect it wasn’t her original idea.

Ólöf’ Arnalds could easily have gone into the dreaded realm of twee like so many singer-songwriters who write so emotively, but instead she has that much-revered gift of being able to translate pure tranquillity and even true happiness into music without sacrificing a sense of depth and grace, blending her fragile pop-soprano vocals seamlessly with expressive yet understated guitar playing.

Arnalds’ voice, in both Icelandic and English, is soft and sweet as a feather spun from sugar, and from her guitar she coaxes both lullaby whispers of melody and strums a dignified melancholy. This is the soundtrack to the happiest of dreams and the tenderest of moments.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to find a floral meadow to skip through.

Author: Katie H-Halinski