This duo, composed of Bafta-winning soundtrack producer Olafur Arnalds and Faroe Islander Janus Rasmussen, have described their work as a modern classical project. Their eponymous album, released this year, features eight long compositions.
It wasn’t long ago that Icelandic wunderkind Olafur Arnalds would arrive on the music scene in a big way with Eulogy for Evolution, his debut full-length which blended heady orchestral melancholy with triumphant electronic beats. As he was developing that sound, Janus Rasmussen was making his own way in music in the Icelandic electropop band Bloodgroup, who have released three albums to date. Rasmussen and Arnalds had become friends years before and always enjoyed making music together.
Now that their joint project Kiasmos has a self-titled release out on Erased Tapes, Arnalds and Rasmussen can finally show the world what beautiful synergy they have together. Here, they discuss how important it was to creating the record to maintain an open-ended sense of freedom that could take the music anywhere. The music maintains a slow burn with Arnalds playing the piano to that clean effect he does so well. The beats click and stutter and crackle without getting grimy in the process. This may be an electronic album, but it is full of human warmth…
The Fat Angel Sings 