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Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and composer born in Mosfellsbær on November 3, 1986, Ólafur Arnalds' minimalist influence is evident in his personal albums of ambient electronica and commissions for television and film. Drummer in hardcore bands such as Fighting Shift between 2003 and 2007, he collaborated with Heaven Shall Burn and developed his own electro style on his debut albums Eulogy for Evolution (2007), ...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness (2010) and Living Room Songs (2011). Signed by the classical music branch of the Mercury label, the composer signed the album For Now I Am Winter in 2013, with the collaboration of singer Arnór Dan. The duo made a name for themselves again in 2013 with the soundtrack to the English TV series Broadchurch, featuring the song "So Close". While several of his other songs and tracks feature in the credits of films such as Hunger Games, Ólafur Arnalds continues his sonic quest in the company of German composer Nils Frahm, with whom he produced the EP Stare (2012) and the album Trance Frendz (2016). In 2015, he worked with classical pianist Alice Sara Ott on the album The Chopin Project, a set of pieces reinterpreted in their own way. After the collection of melodies Island Songs (2016), in which various performers take part, the minimalist composer remixes his first album, renamed Eulogy for Evolution 2017, then sets to work, with the help of algorithms derived from artificial intelligence, on the original compositions of Re:member (2018). This was followed in 2020 by the ambient and pop project Some Kind of Peace, and two years later, a few weeks after the soundtrack to the first season of the Surface series, a new version played on piano and released under the title Some Kind of Peace - Piano Reworks (2022). In 2025, he teamed up with Swedish Eurovision Song Contest champion Loreen for the SAGES project, which resulted in an EP of the same name. The same year sees the release of the album A Dawning, a collaboration with Irish musician and singer Talos (Eoin French), shortly before his death on August 11, 2024. The album also features contributions from Sandrayati ("Bedrock"), Alexi Murdoch and Niamh 9. Regan with Ye Vagabonds.
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