Ásgeir releases the new album, Time on My Hands (Lo-Fi Version)

On his new lo-fi interpretation of the album, Time On My Hands, Ásgeir has captured an authentic style by recording acoustically, direct to a four-track tape recorder.

The original version of Time On My Hands, which was released last year, saw Ásgeir in a state of self-reflection and experimentation, having spent much of the last few years in his home and in the studio deeply engrossed in writing, recording, translating and producing.

“The idea was to do an acoustic lo-if version of the album and to detox from all the production and computer use. We used an old 4 track cassette recorder, sometimes recorded straight on to the cassettes and sometimes we ran audio from Pro Tools and through the recorder to get that flavour," Ásgeir says. "It’s very lo-fi sounding and didn’t take a lot of time to make, which was the objective, not to overthink anything and just move on. Some of the songs sound almost like demos while others are more developed, with string arrangements written by Þórður Magnússon and some overdubbed guitars or synths."

On Time on My Hands (Lo-Fi Version), he’s shifted his interest in the layered production of the original album towards a more stripped back meditation, and it’s no less compelling. In fact, new tracks are elevated, with an intimacy that can only come from this kind of recording process. Gentle, contemplative acoustics underpin his effortlessly harmonised falsetto.

The rolling landscapes aesthetic of Time On My Hands was inspired by Ásgeir’s own relationship with music over the last few years, consuming mostly while he was running outdoors, or while on long drives. He says that “some of the albums or music that stand out from that time were Caribou’s album Suddenly, Caroline Polachek’s Pang, Dijon, Altopalo, Big Thief, Michael Kiwanuka, Sault, Ethan Gruska, Blake Mills and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. This music probably has something to do with how the record came out, combined with earlier influences”.