Ólafur Arnalds – Re:Member (2022 Re-Issue) //Mercury KX// (Released 30th September)

Description

£27.99 – LP

The highly anticipated fourth LP from Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and producer Ólafur Arnalds features groundbreaking new software Stratus, which transforms the piano into an almost entirely new instrument. The Stratus Pianos are two self-playing, semi-generative player pianos which are triggered by a central piano played by Arnalds; these new instruments and custom built software are the centerpiece of Re:Member. Created over a two-year period by composer and audio developer Halldór Eldjárn, the algorithms generated by Stratus were used to create the LP artwork.

On the LP, Arnalds uses these methods to reinvigorate the compositional process. He explains, “This is my breaking-out-of-a-shell album. It’s me taking the raw influences that I have from all these different musical genres and not filtering them. It explores the creative process and how one can manipulate that to get out of the circle of expectations and habit”.

The new music on Re:Member uses not only Stratus pianos but also includes a string quartet, synthesizers, electronics, live drums and a string orchestra recorded at London’s Air Studios. With his friend Halldór Eldjárn, Arnalds set about developing the Stratus system: software that sends instructions to two pianos “and the two become one and play together”. Arnalds sets the values that the software feeds to the pianos – the rhythm, the tempo – and those are triggered by chords or notes he plays. What happened when Arnalds started making music using Stratus was a little unexpected and quickly became the focal point of his new compositions.

Tracklisting:

01 Re:Member

02 Unfold (ft. SOHN)

03 Saman

04 Brot

05 Inconsist

06 They Sink

07 Ypsilon

08 Partial

09 Momentary

10 Undir

11 Ekki Hugsa

12 Nyepi