Olafur Arnalds - ...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darknes

Lossless/FLAC
Includes: Log/Cue

Tracklisting:

01. Þú Ert Eólin
02. Þú Ert Jörðin
03. Tunglið
04. Loftið Verður Skyndilega Kalt
05. Kjurrt
06. Gleypa Okkur
07. Hægt, Kemur Ljósið
08. Undan Hulu
09. Þau Hafa Sloppið Undan þunga Myrkursins



Quote:
Reviews:

Boomkat (05/05/2010)
'The stock of this young Icelandic composer has risen dramatically within a relatively short period of time, and although this is only the second album proper from Olafur Arnalds, there's been a healthy amount of anticipation building up to its release. And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness takes its name from a line in Bela Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies, a film that Arnalds cites as a major inspiration all round for this album, and knowing that certainly invites you to draw parallels between the stately, elegant pacing and proportions of the respective works. Arnalds is able to draw a vast spectrum of colours from a relatively restricted palette, and previously the interplay between strings and piano gave him all manner of achingly lovely material, but for this latest project Arnalds has set aside the homespun electronic additional productions of his prior releases and looked to a bigger, more fully produced sound, assisted by fellow Icelandic maverick, Barði Johannsson (known for his work with pop/electronica outfit, Bang Gang). Tracks like 'Tunglið' and the massive sounding 'Gleypa Okkur' really benefit from the additional live instrumentation, with drums and noisier, rockier elements all helping to broaden Arnalds' repertoire beyond the neo-classical parameters we'd ordinarily associate with him, and resituate his work within a more contemporary and hard-wearing style. A confirmed career milestone for this ever-improving artist.'

BBC Music (12/05/2010)
'Ólafur Arnalds has found inspiration for his latest collection in the slow-motion celluloid poetry of Werckmeister Harmonies, the elegiac fantasy of Hungarian director Béla Tarr. In particular, the Icelandic composer has drawn on that film’s opening sequence (a line from which provides this album with its title), which sees the chief protagonist delivering an emotive monologue on the processes of a solar eclipse; patently a metaphor for the resurrection of hope from the depths of despair.
This arc from shadow to light is mirrored across the duration of …and They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness, providing Arnalds with a clear contextual framework upon which to found his work, while emancipating him from the default melancholia of his past material. Whereas previous efforts have found him struggling to locate his specific USP, mired in the second tier of contemporary ivory workers (some distance behind the likes of Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter), this set’s effortless poise elevates him to the genre’s upper echelons.
While this success is partly due to the suite’s conceptual foundations and strategy, it also benefits from an expanded instrumental palette. When, on Tunglið, a tumble of drums splinters the plaintive, customary trade-off between ivory and strings, it’s as if an immeasurable stretch of black nimbus has parted, recoiling in the wake of a sun’s ardent luminescence. Moments such as this seem a world away from the indistinct sketches that characterised so much of 2009’s Dyad 1909.
Arnalds is clearly growing in confidence, comfortable enough to permit his phrases to linger, allowing each note to permeate the vacated spaces between. Perhaps this is the influence of Béla Tarr once more, a man renowned for his use of languidly-paced shots (the 145 minutes of Werckmeister Harmonies contains a mere 39). Regardless, Arnalds is set to take his place among the big boys. Not bad for a guy who once sat behind the traps for a group called Fighting S***.'
Uncut (10/05/2010)
'Precocious Nordic composer’s sumptuous second LP...Timeless and sublime' ****

This Is Fake DIY (10/05/2010)
'Eerily beautiful... A minimalist, yet haunting listen'

Clash (08/05/2010)
'Meticulous… uplifting and richly orchestrated... peopled with languorous ladies climbing through ice filled caverns'

Rock Sound (07/05/2010)
'A prodigiously talented composer'

Norman Records (07/05/2010)
'A fuller, richer sound palette evolves around the graceful core of sombre piano & tear inducing strings, at times more cinematic & glorious than ever before, but still tinged with that life-affirming sadness: this is incredibly rousing, soothing & moving music that very much suits these fraught filled times. Like the eclipse artwork tons as well, a beautiful package all round'

Drowned In Sound (06/05/2010)
'An artist of immense maturity' (9/10)

The Quietus (05/05/2010)
'Trust me: if it catches you in the right mood, at the right time – and for me that was an evening journey on crowded public transport, my headphones clamped to my head – the way its lone violin and fragile piano melody give way to symphonic strings and chiming keys, like Orchestral Explosions In The Sky, out of which its bare bones again emerge, will reduce you to wordless tears'

The Silent Ballet (02/05/2010)
'Those of us who are already at the end of the spectrum that he so desires have a head start. Although critics will undoubtedly try to force Arnalds into the Richter/Jóhannsson camp, his ideals are probably closer to that of his younger contemporaries like Nico Muhly and Peter Broderick, who will be staples in the lexicon for years to come' Artist of the Week !