so, when it comes to charming, pretty vocals in music today, surely the icelandic όlöf arnalds must be leading the pack, as illustrated on her newest album. innundir skinni is, for lack of a better description, an absolutely gorgeous collection of songs. the two singles, crazy car and surrender, will likely get the most attention, but there are other gems worthy of obsession, such as jonathan, complete with fairly-like tinkling and guitar patterns more celtic sounding than anything else, and the title track, innundir skinni, whose guitar lines are like warm streams of gold alongside όlöf’s delicate, sweet voice. fellow icelandic native björk lends her vocals to surrender, and kjartan sveinsson of sigur rós helped produce the album.

όlöf arnalds was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about her new album:

have you met heather: innundir skinni is sung in both icelandic and english. what was it like recording an album in two different languages?

όlöf arnalds: I didn’t think about it that much. Some of the lyrics came to me in Icelandic, some in English.

hymh: crazy car has some beautiful imagery in it. what is the story behind the song?

όlöf: Crazy Car is a song about a singer friend of mine, that was getting a bit confused from living in New York. It’s a bit of a tongue in cheek warning about the dangers of loosing earth connection.

hymh: your music is often termed ethereal and folky. what are your influences?

όlöf: I’m sure all music I’ve heard or played has influenced me in some way, but I find it hard to pinpoint what my direct musical influences are. Both my processes of writing and recording are very different to me each time, and i don’t feel like I’m deliberately going for any certain kind of sound. I don’t consider myself a folk musician, I’m just a singer and so far my music has mostly been played on acoustic instruments.

thanks, όlöf!

have a listen to crazy car – so simple and beautiful:

dearest, dearest here’s a song
beautiful, so bright and young
you got mojo, you got soul
full of colors, pearls and poetry
climbing over symmetry walls
watering the sea
fire is fire, that is all
don’t go in the crazy car

(mp3) crazy car by όlöf arnalds

here’s the video:

buy innundir skinni HERE.