Olafur Arnalds - Living Room Songs

Olafur Arnalds - Living Room Songs
Genre: Neo-Classical/Alternative
Rating: 6.5/10

Olafur Arnalds is a neo-classical composer who first came to my attention back in 2007 with his glorious debut album Eulogy For Evolution. Since then he has been championed by critics across the globe for his beautiful contemporary compositions that fuse classical orchestration with more contemporary influences. Living Room Songs is his latest release a collection of minimalist arrangements recorded at home and rather than an exuberant follow up studio album to 2010's ...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness Arnalds is seen treading the same simplistic path of 2009's Found Songs, a compilation of songs recorded in just a week.

Since the beginning of his career as a classical composer Arnalds has seen his fair share of critical accolades. Signed to the well established indie label Erased Tapes over time his experimental pallet has done nothing but widen with each release helping to further his success. Whilst many of the key elements of his music remain the same from record to record each album so far is mixed with its own contemporary musical counterpart which gives most of his back catalogue each have an individual feel. His average composition consists heavily of string sections that fade in an out using plentiful rests and plaintiff melancholy piano's and keys. The real creative flair in his sound comes from his intermittent inclusion of samples and standard drum kits where Arnalds welds together classical and contemporary to make beautifully cinematic movements. The contemporary element Arnalds experiments with in Living Room Songs is as the title would suggest ambient background noise. Throughout the album Arnalds classical sensibilites are expressed in a more lo-fi raw form with added creaks from floor boards and scratchier and less precise strings and clumsier keys. The whole album has the feel of being recorded in isolation the creaking floor boards and crackly imperfections adding an extra dimension to sombre compositions. Highlights include the eerie "Near Light" where slow building crackles eventually turn into skittering programmed drums as well as "Ágúst" which is trademark Arnalds with its beautiful melody. The main downside to the recording as it feels rather restrained whilst it is more of a compilation than a full studio album too many of the sampled sound effects repeat themselves and it lacks the air of adventure of his earlier work. Whilst his trademark sound is something he has truly mastered with such a large output it can't be helped feeling that he may have started to repeat himself.

Overall Living Room Songs is an adequate release from a very talented composer. Whilst the critics are sure to sing its praises the fact of the matter is Arnalds has produced much better albums in his time and comparitively this latest addition struggles to stand up against comparisons with his earlier more varied work. The album is not terrible just a tad disappointing.

Download: "Near Light" "Ágúst"