Staff Reviews

Ólöf Arnalds - Palme

Review by Russell Warfield

Even on such a short album, Arnalds still manages to make the thing feel about twice its length, and lose the listener about halfway through»

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Olof Arnalds returns with a brand new album, 'Palme', released via One Little Indian. 'Palme' represents Olof ́s most collaborative effort to date, and also her most profoundly sensual and affecting. Musically, it offers up an astonishing wellspring of fresh ideas and playful experimentation that move the sound on from the acoustic approach that predominantly defined her first three records, 'Vio og Vio' (2007), 'Innundir Skinni' (2009) and 'Sudden Elevation' (2013). On 'Palme', Olof is backed by two trusted collaborators and friends: Gunnar Orn Tynes (founder of electro-folk collective, Mum) and long-term musical foil, Skuli Sverrisson (who has also worked with luminaries Laurie Anderson, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Blonde Redhead). Lead single 'Patience', written by Skuli (who also shares writing credits for 'Palme' and 'Soft Living') boasts a Polynesian vocal sway, while 'Defining Gender's gentle bossa nova and swelling strings conspire to make it so tender it threatens to burst at any moment. Elsewhere, subtle electronics guide Hypnose's gentle propulsion and Half Steady's strange, robotic cacophony. Some songs, like 'Turtledove', are brand new, while others are old friends - 'Half Steady' was written by Olof while she was still in her teens. The constant here is Olof's effortlessly distinctive vocal. Time Out New York once declared that her voice 'can silence a room, such is its sweetness.' On 'Palme' it has never been so poignant, or powerfully intoxicating.
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