Track By Track: Ólafur Arnalds on Late Night Tales

The stunning mixture of noises includes tracks from Jai Paul, Julianna Barwick, Samaris, James Blake, and more. There are also three exclusive tracks: a cover of Destiny's Child's "Say My Name", an exclusive Odesza instrumental, and an exclusive from Arnalds' techno project Kiasmos. David Tennant also contributes a spoken word piece at the end.

Listen below, and read our Track By Track guide after.

Hjálmar Lárusson and Jónbjörn Gíslason - "Jómsvíkingarímur - Ýta Eigi Feldi Rór"

I wanted to start with a traditional song from home and see how it would contrast with the more modern pieces on the mix. I spent a day at the library going through old Icelandic 'Rímur' until I found this old tape recording of two men singing in monotone. The melody fit perfectly with the ambience of the next song.

Julianna Barwick - "Forever"

My friend Peter Broderick sometimes works in this record store in Portland. Last time I played over there me and Nils Frahm went shopping and Peter cheekily shoved this record into my bag. I later found out it was recorded in Iceland by another friend, Alex Somers.

Koreless - "Last Remnants"

His songs barely have more than one or two elements. It’s so restrained and subtle, yet he can make you go crazy in concert. There is something really special about this young talent.

Odesza - "How Did I Get Here (Instrumental)"

I first met the Odesza guys in San Francisco on tour with Kiasmos. They ambushed our tour bus, drank all our beer, and then danced in the front row our whole show. Gotta love them. This song originally features a vocal sample but they were so kind to create this instrumental version just for my mix. Thank you!

Anois - "A Noise"

Robert, founder of Erased Tapes Records, sent this song to me sometime in 2007 when he was considering signing this band. Somehow it never left my MP3 player and since the title begins with “A” it’s always the song that automatically goes on when I plug it into my car. I’ve never known anything more about this band or heard any other music by them, but this song has accidentally stayed with me for almost 10 years now.

Samaris - "Góða Tungl"

I remember hearing Jófríður’s voice for the first time and thinking that I was hearing something really special. A unique talent which still blows me away today.

Ólafur Arnalds - "RGB"

This piece was made for one of my collaborative kinetic installations with media artist Joachim Sauter (ART+COM), “RGBCMYKinetic” which premiered in Barcelona in 2015. The piece is an exploration between kinetic movement, sound, and light.

Rival Consoles - "Pre"

Rival Consoles is a label mate who frequently shares a stage with Kiasmos. The long intro-build up fitted nicely with the outro of the last song so I decided to just mix them together for the first minute or two. A nice and slow transition into the more upbeat part of the mix.

Four Tet - "Lion (Jamie xx remix)"

I have loved Jamie’s contribution to electronic music over the last years and Four Tet is of course just the master of it. So what better combination to include than those two.

Jai Paul - "Jasmine"

Jai Paul has been such a refreshing addition to alternative pop music and has been a huge influence on the pop music that I have produced myself. As strange as it sounds, if you look closely you will hear Jai Paul’s influence in Icelandic R&B pop released in the last few years.

James Blake - "Our Love Comes Back"

This is where I see the next part of the mix starting. A new beginning in a way. James is the perfect transition between the electronic world and the more sombre voices and piano.

Spooky Black - "Pull"

I remember seeing his video to “Without U” for the first time and just thinking “Why is this rapper so sad?” I was so weirded out by the whole thing that I even forgot to listen to the music. But something kept pulling me back to it. Again and again. There is something special in this that I couldn’t capture even if i tried.

Ólafur Arnalds & Arnór Dan - "Say My Name (Destiny’s Child Cover)"

When me and Arnór were touring together in 2013 we were quite obsessed with Cyril Hahn’s remix of "Say My Name" and started jamming with it in sound checks. So in a way this is a cover of a his remix. We ended up playing sometimes as an encore on the tour but never recorded it until now.

Sarah Neufeld & Colin Stetson - "And Still They Move"

They both transcend what is possible with their instruments, which is something I strive to do as well. So they are a huge influence, if not musically then at least idealistically.

Kiasmos - "Orgoned"

Kiasmos is my collaborative project with Janus Rasmussen. We made this song quite a while back and have even played it live sometimes and we are so happy to finally find a good home for it.

Ólafur Arnalds - "Kinesthesia I"

My final exclusive track is just intended as a short interlude before the end of the mix. Originally written for a dance piece with Travis Wall and his Shaping Sound Dance Company.

Hjaltalín - "Etheral"

While making this record, Hjaltalín’s singer was going through serious mental health issues and it was a challenge for everyone to get it done. During one of his manic episodes he asked for a mic to be set up at the piano. The guys set it up for him, pressed record and then just ignored him and kept working on another song. After a few minutes they started noticing something really beautiful was coming from the recording room. He was improvising, in a strange state of mania, and the most honest, harrowing and beautiful song was coming out. The recording you hear is exactly that take. Unchanged and unedited.

Undone by Anam Sufi, Read by David Tennant

Combination of two very different worlds of mine. Anam is an old friend of mine and an aspiring writer and I’ve had the pleasure of working with David on Broadchurch for the last few years. They have never met each other or even spoken but I am so grateful to them both to be willing to participate in this with me.

Arnalds' Late Night Tales compilation is out now. Watch an excellent short documentary about it below.