According to Ólöf Arnalds’ PR, the Icelandic folk singer has been “an active practitioner of popular music for thirty years.” This has all the stilted glory of an attempt to woo someone by telling them you practise the French horn for four hours a night “despite repeated threats from neighbours and the local authority.” But enough of that – what about her fifth album Spíra (Sprout)?
Spíra is entirely in Arnalds’ native tongue –an approach that has worked for Sigur Rós, so perhaps Arnalds can expect a support slot with Radiohead. On her second album Innundir skinni (Under the Skin), she collaborated with Björk, who apparently described Arnalds as “somewhere between a child and an old woman.” You can see, or rather hear, her point on album opener ‘Heimurinn núna’ (‘The World Now’). ‘Von um mildi’ (‘Hoping for Grace’) is a “daughter-mother fable” that was originally written for a National Theatre of Iceland production. In addition to the picked guitar on the previous track, it brings in double bass and piano, which is played as gently as a brushing feather.
‘Stein fyrir stein’ (‘Stone by Stone’) was written for Arnalds’ uncle, who looked after her and her sisters when their father passed away. It makes ‘Wuthering Heights’ seem as ethereal as Poundland. ‘Spíra’ is not about the Christmas vegetable, though if it was, it would surely be the loveliest tribute to the bitter tiny green globes. The song is in fact about Arnalds’ teenage son. It features harp, and Arnalds sings as gleefully as a woodland fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
‘Vorkoma’ (‘The Arrival of Spring’) is dedicated to Arnalds’ friend, the author Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir. Arnalds sounds as happy as a chaffinch on the brink of a bath brimming with seeds. The mood changes on ‘Tár í morgunsárið’ (‘Tears At Dawn’), on which Arnalds ponders “the gaping hole in her stomach left by worship…when she renounced Catholicism as a teenager.” If saying goodbye to God means producing something as beautiful as this, then close down the churches and repurpose them as recording studios. The song sways as majestically as ‘Fairytale of New York’, though this is one for the mulled wine crew and not the Guinness gang.
A previous review of Spíra tells me that ‘Afl þitt og hús (‘Houses and Power’) contains the lyrics: “For what are riches and houses and power / If in that house blooms no lovely flower?” I think The Bard would have been pleased with these words. Over picked guitar and a backdrop of organ and layered vocals, Arnalds intones with the seriousness and gravitas of a medieval adviser warning the king that war is coming. ‘Úfinn sjór’ (‘Rough Waters’) is an ode to Iceland’s long winter darkness, though it’s as sprightly and twee as a song by Björk in celebration of a puddle. The harp is centre stage on album closer Lifandi’ (‘Alive’), and one wonders whether fellow harpist Joanna Newsom’s ‘Sprout and The Bean’ is an inspiration in more ways than one. Accompanied by crunching, deep piano chords, Arnalds sings with the grace and gratitude of a recently freed Rapunzel.
It’s Christmas – time for sprouts and Spíra as a gift. Both are good all the year round.
Spíra is out now via Bella Union
Ólöf Arnalds: Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook
Review by Neil Laurenson
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