Though she’s known for her collaborations with acts such as múm, the Iceland native Ólöf Arnalds songbird like voice and multi-instrumental talents showcase that she is just as spectacular as a solo artist, if not more so.
Between working on her sophomore record, preparing for SXSW and celebrating her first record’s U.S. debut, Arnalds still found the time to talk to PopWreckoinng about her musical history and her future endeavors.
Bethany, PopWreckoning: Why did you want to be a musician?
Ólöf Arnalds: I’ve never really thought that much about whether I wanted to be a musician or not. I’ve been learning or working with music since I was a child. It’s a very big part of who I am and I’m really thankful to have the opportunity to focus on music and make a living from it. 
PW: How important do you think music education/training is for a musician and a songwriter?
ÓA: I think that’s very individual from one to another. People can train and learn music in so many different ways and musicians and songwriters just have to approach or develop whichever tool or technique they think is the most helpful for what they want to express.
PW: When working on your senior project, Eins og sagt er, how did you come up with the idea for the project? You came to New York. Why New York? Though you’re done with school, would you ever try to do a project like that again?
ÓA: I had done another multi-frame music performance piece before with fewer and simpler musical themes and I wanted to find a way to expand the idea. My interest in the rhythm and pitch in spoken language became a focus point for the musical composition. I traveled to New York for a month in the Summer of 2005 to collect texts from people because I knew I could find people of all nationalities there. I was also very drawn to the city for other reasons and thought this would be a good way to spend some time there. Although music is my main field I’m really interested in continuing to work with other media too either through collaborations or individual projects.
PW: Though Við og Við came out in 2007, it just recently was released in United States. How has the reaction been? Is it strange for this to be “new” music to so many people when you are on the dawn of releasing the follow-up album? Any plans for touring in the States soon?
ÓA: I’m really humbled by how Við og við has been received in the U.S with all the good press and interest people have shown in the record. Of course, I’ve come a long way since I made Við og við and and have even made a whole new record so I feel bit detached from it. Við og við feels to me like a thing that has it’s own life and is independent of me now so I´m happy it´s doing well. I have a short tour coming up around SXSW with shows also in Boston and New York. A full list of dates and venues is up at my MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/olofarnalds.
PW: How is your sophomore album coming along? Name and release date confirmed? What can fans expect (lyrical subject matter, instruments used on it)?
ÓA: We’ve just finished mastering it. The working title was Ókídókí, but then I decided to change the name of the album to Innundir skinni, after one of the songs. The Ókídókí title came about when the ideas were more all over the place and I hadn’t put the editing knife on the album as a whole. Now when I’ve killed the darlings and focused the sound of the record, Ókídókí feels a bit too careless a title particularly considering all the work that my collaborators and I have put in. Innundir skinni means “within skin” that in the song refers to carrying a child. But “skin” can be many things – for example a CD can be the skin of the music and within skin could be about your feelings inside. So to me, Innundir skinni as an album title means that I’m letting the listener into my world. The release date hasn’t been confirmed yet. Innundir skinni is a bit more diverse in sound and feel than Við og við: it has more colour, more elaborate instrumentation and three of the lyrics are in English. It also has one co-written lyric and two guest singing performances. On Við og við, most of the songs were to my family members. On Innundir skinni, I’m singing about my friends, being a woman, creativity and then of course everyone’s favorite subject – love.
PW: Do you ever have a hard time balancing your solo work and your work with múm?
ÓA: I haven’t played or collaborated with múm since my first solo album came out in 2007. múm now have a very solid setup of great musicians that works really well and my time is occupied with my own music so I probably won’t return to the touring group. It makes me a bit sad since they are all dear friends, and I miss playing and hanging out. I still do have plans to collaborate with members of múm in the future whether on my music, theirs or even a separate creative project.
PW: You already play multiple instruments. What is one instrument that you currently don’t know how to play, but wish you could learn it and why?
ÓA: I would love to be able to play piano with a good theoretical understanding of harmony. I can only play it by ear now and have no grip on theory. Although my understanding of chord progression is there, it’s all based on ear and my own internal language of music that I find hard to break out of. I’m working on my understanding of theory with a guitar teacher now. Hopefully, I’ll be able to apply some of that to the piano. I would also love to learn how to operate some electronic devices, like a sampler or a programming thing with an idiot proof interface. I really admire people that have patience for computers and electronic gear and are able to make something organic with it.
