Ólafur Arnalds
Late Night Tales
(Late Night Tales)

Ambient electronica at its finest, the Late Night Tales mix compilation from Ólafur Arnalds is mesmerizingly gorgeous. A composer and musician from Mosfellsbær, Iceland, Arnalds released his first album back in 2007. Mostly Late Night Tales builds an emotional surround sound of lush looping, emotionally engaged waves. Layered instrumentation, moody beats and percussion with several different vocalists, Late Night Tales never gives way to anything beyond an authentic resilience. “Last Remnants” by Koreless contains a melodic, hypnotic pulsation of eagerness and velocity. The rhythmic, percussive tide that undulates between alluring instrumentation on ODESZA’s “How Did I Get Here” makes the tune vibrant and smoky. Searing guitar on Jai Paul’s “Jasmine” is fiery while the vocals are almost lost under layers of funk riffs. The pieces and slivers of melody and percussion against a lush sonic garden of instrumentation along with the album’s host of vocalists allows the project to possess a rare ingenuity. Each song unfolds with an emotional feel and a blank canvas that the listener is seemingly encouraged to dream against.