Emerging Fervour

What do you think of when I say Iceland? Probably an ash cloud. But this should change soon and you will think of music. Especially the music of Olafur Arnalds. The Icelandic musician is a busy guy. He has just finished his first tour in China, will be touring Europe in may and releases his new album …and they have escaped the weight of darkness on the 17th of may. Apart from that he is one half of the Techno project Kiasmos and composes music for other artists like the German heavy metal band Heaven Shall Burn. Lucky me, he was in London and willing to spend a few minutes with to talk.

The range of your musical activities is quite diverse. You’re releasing your new album in may, are part of the techno project Kiasmos, you’re composing music for other bands as well and you also did the music for the Wayne McGregor ballet Dyad 1909. On a musical map, do you have something like a hometown?

No, I wouldn’t say that, not at all. I just want to be good at myself and I like different things. It’s really that simple. I’d like to try everything, music is just music. So, I don’t look at music in genres, for me it’s all in the same pool. I want to study some some really far away music, I did some stuff with a Klezmer band some time ago. Doing more like this and trying to incorporate it with Western music, these are things I’m always working on.

I find it really hard to describe your music. It’s not only contemporary classic, it’s not pop, it’s not chamber pop. But, what is it? How would you describe your own sound?

Well, I say it doesn’t really matter. For me these things are actually so stupid. It doesn’t matter to anyone whether I’m turning pop into classical music or classical music into pop. I’m somewhere in between and I don’t care how people want to phrase it. I they call it neo-classical, or post-classical or modern-classical, in the end it’s all the same thing: it’s just music.

From a marketing point of view I would say that this is one of the worst slogans a record label could have. But I guess, it’s a question of interpretation.

The London based independent label Erased Tapes was founded in 2007, focusing on cinematic music. The artists on Erased Tapes cover diverse genres and styles, but they’re all united by one thing: sincere emotions.

Listening to the Erased Tapes compilations is like watching a plant grow. It seems random in the first place, but when the flower buds start to open, you can see that it’s all part of a master plan, that leads to perfection. And with selected seeds like Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm or Peter Broderick, the label proves its green thumb.

Nils Frahm is a Berlin based composer and producer. He recently released Wintermusik, and in just three absolutely overwhelming piano songs, he lets Yann Tiersen sound like a mediocre hobby musician. After his album Bells, which was recorded in a church in Berlin, Wintermusik is another stroke of genius. The more often you listen to his music, it becomes obvious that Nils Frahm creates something really rare: grace.

Watch out! You might hear a lot from these acts in 2010. At least that’s what I hope for.