A gorgeous, delicate, ethereal first release in a decade by the Icelandic singer-songwriter, acoustic instruments and her gentle, high, pure voice, all in her native language, caressing this listening experience like pure waters of some slowly trickling glacial stream. The title means “sprout”, and the feel of the release harks back to the roots of her very first album, Við Og Við (2007). There are echoes of Joanna Newsom, early Nico and Vashti Bunyan to her clear, pure delivery, and her fellow, famous Icelander, friend and occasional collaborator Björk has affectionately described Ólöf as “somewhere between a child and an old woman”. While she is a classically trained violinist and composer folk is the particularly the genre through which she has captivated audiences with mesmeric performances featuring guitar, charango, violin and koto. Piano features regularly here too interweaving with finger-picked acoustic. It is all exquisite, but highlights include opener Heimurinn núna (Our World Now), a love song that subtly touches on themes such as faith, responsibility and neurodiversity. Stein fyrir stein (“Stone by stone”), written for her uncle who helped take care of her and her sisters when her father passed away at 54, has lyrics pondering the healing power of nature and the wisdom gained from interacting with the natural world. Tár í morgunsárið (“Tears at Dawn”) is particularly delicate number on which Ólöf ponders the gaping hole left by worship and prayer when she renounced Catholicism as a teenager and in which her lyrics directly address God. The title track, another gem, a gentle waltz with pizzicato strings, sensitively ponders Ólöf’s relationship with her teenage son Ari when he is passing between two homes - of Ólöf and his father from whom she is divorced. Vorkoma (“The Coming of Spring”), is a song dedicated to Ólöf’s long-time friend, the author Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir, on which she sings lyrics that translate as “It’s so nice to bathe / and cry / stop pretending / you don’t have memories.” Úfinn sjór (“Rough Waters”) is a wonderful ode to the long winter darkness of Iceland.
Whether sorrow or joy, tears and laughter, life struggles or gentle triumphs, the album reveals unfurling leaf after leaf of exquisite beauty and deep and nuanced emotions, but happily ends with love as the theme on Lifandi (“Alive”) in which she is ready to accept her lover like an open flower. “Love lifts us high above everything/ What wonderful stroke of luck that you should want me,” she sings, while beneath high finger-picked argeggios, strong piano chords build and underpin the depth and swell of joy returning. Wondrous. Out on Bella Union.
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