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For Now I Am Winter

His first album with vocals and with orchestra, made for Mercury Classics.
Ólafur Arnalds, 2013

Released
February 2013
Studio
Studio Hiljóðriti, Harpa Concert Hall and E7
Label
Mercury Classics
Producer
Ólafur Arnalds
Length
48:19

Four tracks have vocals from Arnór Dan of Agent Fresco, the first time Arnalds put vocals on a released work. Nico Muhly orchestrated the pieces for members of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Atli Örvarsson. The sleeve notes say the piano and string quartet were recorded at Studio Hiljóðriti, the orchestra at Harpa Concert Hall and everything else at E7, where it was also mixed. It was mastered at Black Saloon. The album was used in the pilot of the 2013 US series Masters of Sex. This Place Was a Shelter is a different piece from the Living Room Songs track This Place Is a Shelter.

Pitchfork's Brian Howe scored it 5.5 in April 2013. He thought it sounded like a stirring score in search of its ballet or film, picked out Sudden Throw, Only the Winds and Reclaim as highs, and wrote that Dan's voice was a very fine vase on a very high shelf. Paste's Ryan Reed scored it 6.6.

Track listing

  1. Sudden Throw3:17
  2. Brim4:43
  3. For Now I Am Winter5:05
  4. A Stutter5:09
  5. Words of Amber3:23
  6. Reclaim4:01
  7. Hands Be Still3:40
  8. Only the Winds5:21
  9. Old Skin4:09
  10. We (Too) Shall Rest2:06
  11. This Place Was a Shelter3:50
  12. Carry Me Anew3:35

Personnel

More from Ólafur Arnalds

Found Songs (2009), ...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness (2010), Living Room Songs (2011), re:member (2018)

Sources

  1. For Now I Am Winter, Discogs
  2. For Now I Am Winter, Mercury Classics CD, Discogs
  3. Ólafur Arnalds: For Now I Am Winter, Pitchfork (2013-04-09)
  4. Ólafur Arnalds: For Now I Am Winter, Paste (2013-04-02)
  5. Ólafur Arnalds, Wikipedia