Icelandic singer-songwriter Ólöf Arnalds will release her new album, Palme, on September 30th via One Little Indian. The follow-up to last year’s Sudden Elevation is being dubbed her “most collaborative effort to date” and features the contributions of longtime associates Gunnar Örn Tynes of experimental collective múm and composer Skúli Sverrisson (Laurie Anderson, Blonde Redhead).
In a press release, Arnalds herself described the recording process as “unsparing” adding, “What worked best musically always ended up in the songs, and the darlings were killed with no regrets!”
The loopy and robotic number “Half Steady” serves as our first look at Palme and sees Arnalds once again expanding on her ever-evolving sonic palette. Here, her feathery vocals drift over an otherworldly mishmash of bleeping synths and chaotic percussion — an aural arrangement that oddly enough works like a futuristic folk spell. Listen in below.
Palme Tracklist:
01. Defining Gender
02. Half Steady
03. Han Grete
04. Hypnose
05. Palme
06. Patience
07. Soft Living
08. Turtledove
