So much for part-time supergroups tinkering in a secluded recording studio and hoping to stay in the shadows. When Iceland’s Ólafur Arnalds and the Faroe Islands’ Janus Rasmussen first teamed up 15 years ago, it was for what they thought would be a low-key creative partnership that shared elements of the music they both loved: reflective ambient, piano, electropop, and Berlin-inspired throbs. All hopes of cloaked reclusiveness disappeared in 2014 with the release of the duo’s self-titled debut album, featuring music that redefined the fusion of electronica and minimal rave/techno by adding elements of sweeping neoclassical and aerated production.
The duo’s second album, which has been 10 years in the making, features 11 tracks, all with one-word titles, that breathe in and out like classic Zen meditation techniques. The analogy isn’t fanciful. It was part-recorded in Arnalds’s Bali-based studio during 2020-2021 (which they describe as “the lost year”), and the musicians sampled traditional Balinese percussion and included field recordings of their natural surroundings. Musically, the duo has shifted from pedal-to-the-metal beats to a more fragmented BPM style, referencing Rasmussen’s interim gigs as a much-sought-after DJ. Squared, the album’s final track, is directly influenced by these nights, but those wishing to chase butterflies across billowing grassy meadows have several delights in store.
All of the tracks connect with what Arnalds says is the duo’s signature sound: emotional rave, and the accompanying cathartic release that can occur during their live shows. There could well be scenes of joyful weeping across the weekend of August 2nd-4th, when Kiasmos bring their live show to Waterford’s All Together Now festival. The likes of Told (infectious, insistent beats wrapped in a Bridgerton ball gown), Bound (starts as a bass-heavy beatathon, ends with luxurious electro-orchestration), Sworn (trippy pulses and bluesy guitar stings), and Dazed (perhaps the album’s best example of the musicians’ styles forming white fluffy clouds of slow-motion piano notes and heavy-eyed beats) highlight skilled technicians at work and play.
“We want to make electronic music that there isn’t so much of right now, to take you on a great journey that is a little bit unconventional,” says Rasmussen. Box ticked.
