Ólafur Arnalds

Eulogy For Evolution

2017
It was on my 30th birthday that Robert Raths, founder of Erased Tapes, approached
me, telling me he had a present for me: my debut album had been released around
my birthday 10 years earlier and we should celebrate by making an anniversary
edition and call it my birthday present. Most passive aggressive birthday present
ever, I said. But he said: “you won’t have to do anything”. Oh boy was he wrong.

I spent the next couple of weeks in some sort of a time machine. Digging up 12
year-old recording sessions of Eulogy For Evolution ... I couldn’t keep myself from
getting back to work on it. There was noise in the microphones, some channels
seemed accidentally muted, and so on. But sometimes I found myself admiring
what my teenage self was capable of. It was somehow charming. Well, most of it.
So I fixed the stuff that wasn’t and sent it off to Nils for remastering.

It was an ambitious outing. When I was 17 my uncle passed away from cancer.
It was the first time I had experienced the passing of someone close to me, so I
dedicated my work to him. Around the same time his first grandchild was born and
was named after him. I was inspired by the joy and positivity it brought, and saw
how somehow our lives were extended after our death. So I set out to create a solid
piece of music that would take us through this circle of life.
The pictures in the booklet, shot by my longtime friend Stuart Bailes, tell that story.
They are snapshots of certain moments within the album. You can see the exact
moment each picture was taken at by looking at the numbers next to it, and the
song titles. So for example, the photo of the baby’s hand has the number 0040
next to it. This means the picture is taken at 0 minutes and 40 seconds into the
album. The moment the first piano notes appear after the string intro – a birth.
Similarly, there is a photo of a church taken at 38 minutes and 37 seconds into the
album, almost at the end. By starting a timer and flicking through the photos, you
should be able to discover a whole other dimension to the music, telling the story
of everything in-between.

This work by a highly emotional teenager has been revived, matured and – I hope
you’ll agree – improved by some of my favourite people in this world. I’m grateful to
see it get another chance to shine and I hope you will enjoy this journey to the past.

Ólafur Arnalds
0040
0048
0729
0952
1440
1953
3055
3326
3704
3837
The first days;
we drove north along the western coastline to a relative’s house who was hosting a big Christmas
party for the family. We passed by some small towns and then we stopped at the ocean to make
some portraits in the muted winter light. It was bloody freezing and Óli was wearing a horrible
jacket, so he had to take it off and sit for me in sub-zero temperatures. That’s why he looks so
frosty and red-eyed in those early promo pictures. But it was fine. Later we were offered traditional
Icelandic cakes and a warm place to stay. That night Ólafur, his father Andrés and I sat in the hot
tub. Snow was on the ground and it was freezing outside. The bath bubbled away and we talked.
Then the aurora borealis started to do its thing and we watched in silence.

A few days later;

we stood on the hill outside of his house, alongside the rest of the community, watching the
distant skyline of Reykjavik exploding with fireworks. The bonfire was burning brightly in front of
us and we were surrounded by family, friends and neighbours. Everyone was glowing in the fire-lit
landscape, snow was on the ground and our bodies wrapped from head to toe.

In the day;
we wandered around the landscape he grew up in and explored the hills that rise behind his family
home. His father is an expert on nature and the environment, he has worked tirelessly throughout
his life to preserve the Icelandic landscape. From our conversations, and that was clear, he has an
acute sense for the surroundings. He told me things about the land that were not visible to me,
but they were crystal clear for him.
Some years later;
I think the photographs we made for Eulogy For Evolution were perfect for that moment. They are
modest pictures that have a quality that reflects the way in which we made them. We travelled
with a camera and took pictures of people, places and things that we felt meant something to Óli
and I. Since then the kids have grown up, the party has been cleared, the fire has been replaced
and the mountains have moved, but still the pictures remain the same. It’s amazing how some
memories stick out like a white stone on a black beach, and thankfully these ones will be with me
forever. Thanks Óli.

for
Family. Art. Nature.

Stuart Bailes
Thanks mom and dad for your endless support, Maik Weichert, Þorvaldur Bjarni & RMP,
Séra Gunnar, Robert Raths, Sven Hasenjäger, Asterix Westphal and everyone who has
supported my music through the last 10 years.

Piano, guitars, drums, organ, bass and melodica performed by Ólafur Arnalds
Piano on 0040: Dagný Arnalds
Violins: Roland Hartwell and Olga Björk Ólafsdóttir
Viola: Guðmundur Kristmundsson
Cello: Sigurður Bjarki Gunnarsson
Solo violin on 3326: Gréta Salóme

Photography by Stuart Bailes

Original artwork designed by Jónas Valtýsson
Redesigned in 2017 by Torsten Posselt at FELD