Ólafur Arnalds - ...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness

Ólafur Arnalds' second full length album '...and they have escaped the weight of darkness' is a credit to the ever growing list of releases that have formed their way from the independent UK label, Erased Tapes, a collective of music lovers and bands that release beautiful pop to instrumental music that perhaps wouldn't be heard otherwise.

'...and they have escaped the weight of darkness' is a Ronseal quick dry advert if ever I have heard one. Beautiful, melodic and light, there are no hints of darkness or a struggle here, just peace. Sparse piano melodies make up the forefront of this collective of tracks, with intelligently composed string movements filling the void. Ocassionally, like in the final track, brass instruments will come out to play, but it is rare that Arnalds strays from the formula of the other tracks. While at times this will alienate the mainstream crowd in terms of buying this record, that is not to say that these tracks couldn't appear in a mainstream setting with adverts or movies that need dare I say it epic background music, could surely do no wrong in picking any track from this gorgeous release.

Intelligent, polished, beautiful yet subtle, Arnalds has created something worth noticing with his second full length. Lets just hope people start to take note not just of his talent but also the hard work of Erased Tapes to discover and release it.

4 / 5

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