Playground magazine

When young Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds released his first album on Erased Tapes, “Eulogy For Evolution” (2007), we had a hunch: this boy would one day be writing film scores. Those fragile pieces, greatly influenced by nineties-era Michael Nyman (the maker of some unforgettable soundtracks for Michael Winterbottom, among others), with those silent moments and slight piano and string movements, held the promise of a great body of work. The years went by and Arnalds continued to release his work on Erased Tapes, four more LPs: two improvisation albums, “Found Songs” (2009) and “Living Room Songs” (2011), one electronic one, entitled “Dyad 1909” (2009), and his best effort to date, “…And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness” (2010), to which he now ads the cherry on the cake, “Another Happy Day” (2012).

His first score ever is for the film of the same name, directed by Sam Levinson and starring Ellen Barkin and Ezra Miller (and a supporting role for Demi Moore), a story of grave family conflicts set at a wedding (in the vein of Jonathan Demme's “Rachel Getting Married”, only more visceral, much to the Sundance 2011's audience's content). Ólafur Arnalds blessed it with delicate and moving music based on piano and “Nymanesque” strings, as you can hear for yourself below these lines, exclusively on PlayGround, courtesy of Erased Tapes, coinciding with today's release of the album. Soon we will bring you an interview with Ólafur Arnalds, but now it's time to hear his new music.