From Iceland — Ólafur Arnalds

Published August 18, 2008

Ólafur Arnalds is a jack of all trades. Variations of Static is his second album of compositions for piano and strings, following Eulogy for Evolution (2007). Before starting his solo career, Ólafur had made a name for himself as a drummer with hardcore bands Fighting Shit and Celestine – all this at the tender age of 21. Five songs in all, Variations of Static comes of like a single compositional piece. The music is simplistic, rooted in atmospheric creations rather than great technical display. It is all very pretty and tender at first but soon the simplistic compositions start to feel naively so, and as a result the album becomes repetitive, despite its sombre tone. There are certainly moods and occasions that will fit this album perfectly, but in general I think this will best be filed in the ‘expect great things from in the future’ pile.