Polar
Decca, 2025
10/10
The 26-year-old Icelandic composer, Gabríel Ólafs, returns with a 6th album, where science fiction ideas enter the soundtrack to a frozen world.
The aptly titled “Entrance” opens with much beauty populating the mesmerizing and pretty tonality, and “Whale Overture” follows with a rhythmic mood that recruits Hera Hilmar’s chilling spoken word amid elegant strings.
In the middle, “The Winds” flows with sublime orchestral ideas that are comforting and elegant, while “Whale Variation” showcases mature piano alongside a heartfelt presence that instills awe and wonder.
“Elegy” arrives close to the end and builds into a powerful and emotive album highlight of dynamic strings and gentle melodies, and “The True Meaning Of Forever” unfolds with waves of grace and beauty that are thoughtful, stirring and cinematic.
Ólafs employs cello, lap steel, and pedal steel guitars and takes influence from video games for a complex, classical affair that benefits from New York Times-bestselling speculative fiction author Rebecca Roanhorse, who was brought on to write the original story Polar, which is nothing short of captivating.
Travels well with: Alice Sara Ott- John Field: Complete Nocturnes; Ray Chen- Player 1