Nordic people with similar names: artist Olafur Eliasson, who made The New York City Waterfalls; Ólafur Arnalds, the neoclassical composer; and Ólöf Arnalds. All of these are grand talents, and in fact, the last two are cousins—but only one is playing the extraordinary Housing Works benefit with Björk and Dirty Projectors on Friday, and that’s Ólöf Arnalds.
Take a listen to “Klara” and it’s easy to hear why Arnalds’s work has drawn such distinguished fans. Her playing—all soft, insistent little plucks and strums—and her clear, high voice recall Joanna Newsom’s Milk-Eyed Mender. But where Newsom’s record is all fairy-tale mystery, Arnalds’s Við og Við debut conjures something more ancient-seeming.
Playing behind her forthcoming second album (recorded with Kjartan Sveinsson from Sigur Rós), you can catch Arnalds live tonight at Union Hall, then tomorrow at Sycamore and the day after at Scandinavia House.
Click on to see Ólöf talking about Klara in interview. “It’s a silly little song,” she says.
