MUSIC: Ólöf Arnalds

Iceland’s calling, and we’re answering back. With a third album available, get ready for the full embrace

Recorded in her native Iceland, Sudden Elevation, Ólöf Arnald’s third full album – her first sung entirely in English – captures a rare and idiosyncratic songwriting talent in full bloom. Superlatives such as ‘otherworldly’, ‘ethereal’ and ‘sonic heaven’ have been bandied about with regards to her music, all pretty much justified. On first listen, her pretty folk lullabies, may come across as whimsical, and slightly bare, but dive in and you’ll find rich melodies, a subtle craftmanship, and complex harmonies.

Produced again by long-time collaborator, Skúli Sverrisson, Sudden Elevation was largely recorded in a late autumn 2011 stint in a seaside cabin in Hvalfjörður (literally ‘Whale-fjord’), in the west of Iceland. Perhaps because it is the first album that Ólöf has recorded from start to finish, with no protracted breaks, it possesses a stronger narrative thread than its predecessors.

“I was always trying to see the record as a conceptual whole, keeping a certain order of songs in mind as we recorded,” explains Ólöf. “I drew different maps of how the record would sound and feel as one complete work, which was something I really felt like doing, given the first opportunity in my life to have a continuous recording process.”

Classically educated on the violin and self-taught on viola, guitar and charango, none-the-less Ólöf’s most distinctive asset is her captivating voice, possessing spring water chasteness, seemingly innocent yet ancient (Björk once described Ólöf’s uniquely compelling vocal sound as “somewhere between a child and an old woman.”)

2010’s Innundir Skinni album and last year’s Ólöf Sings covers EP attracted much attention; she has been covered in Mojo, Q, Dazed & Confused, The Guardian, Stool Pigeon, Clash, and at the end of the year, Innundir skinni appeared in Uncut magazine’s 50 Best Albums Of 2010, as well as appearing amongst the finalists for the prestigious Nordic Music Prize that year.

Unitarian Church, Friday 7 June, 7pm, £9.50