With Spira (Sprout), Ólöf Arnalds rediscovers the joy of songwriting. The album returns to the intimacy of her debut: sung entirely in Icelandic, recorded mostly in single takes at Sundlaugin, and arranged with a stripped-back simplicity reminiscent of Við og við.
A classically trained vocalist and violinist with three decades in popular music, Arnalds first gained wide acclaim with her 2007 debut, produced by Kjartan Sveinsson, which quickly became an Icelandic classic.
Spira is produced by Skúli Sverrisson—whose extensive résumé spans Laurie Anderson to Ryuichi Sakamoto—with contributions from Davíð Þór Jónsson, a longtime collaborator. The result is a quietly radiant work that reconnects Arnalds with the roots of her artistry.
