This Place Is A Shelter
Born 1986 in the suburban Icelandic town of Mosfellsbær, a few kilometers o… Read Full Bio ↴Born 1986 in the suburban Icelandic town of Mosfellsbær, a few kilometers outside of Reykjavík, composer/performer Ólafur Arnalds has always enjoyed pushing boundaries with both his studio work and live-shows. Since the release of his debut album "Eulogy for Evolution" in 2007 he has built up a dedicated international following and is well established for his genre-crossing compositions blending classical, pop and ambient/electronica influences to a unique musical language.

Starting out as drummer for several hardcore/metal bands, Ólafur was asked to write instrumental intros and outros for the album "Antigone" of German metal band Heaven Shall Burn. This led to more work in the field of neo-classical strings and piano based music, and ultimately to the release of Eulogy for Evolution and the beginning of Ólafur's partnership with Berlin based label Erased Tapes. In 2008 he embarked on a tour with fellow Icelanders Sigur Rós.

In 2009 he started a week-long project of composing one track by day, making it immediately available online to his fans. The collection was later officially released under the title Found Songs. He repeated the same experiment in 2011 under the title Living Room Songs. Also in 2009 the ballet Dyad 1909 premiered with a score composed by Ólafur. Choreographed by Wayne McGregor and performed by Wayne McGregor Random Dance, the ballet was inspired by Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole in 1909. That year he also started Kiasmos, together with Janus Rasmussen. Kiasmos is a minimal techno based project. Their self titled debut album was released in 2014, preceded by the Thrown EP.

In April 2010 Ólafur released his second full-length album entitled ...And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness, which was backed up with an extensive tour, including his first trip to China.

His third album, and the first to be released under his new partnership with Universal Music's Mercury Classics imprint, is titled For Now I Am Winter and planned for international release in February 2013. Expanding on his previous work the new album features a full orchestra and – for the first time – introduces vocals to his soundworld. Icelandic singer Arnór Dan is to be heard on four tracks of the album.

More recently Ólafur has been venturing into the world of films, writing his first Hollywood film score to Another Happy Day. He also had music in the hit film The Hunger Games and has been featured several times on popular American television show So You Think You Can Dance. For 2013 his scores include the music to the ITV thriller series Broadchurch, starring David Tennant and Olivia Colman, as well as to the film Gimme Shelter, directed by Ron Krauss and starring Vanessa Hudgens and Brendan Fraser.

In 2014 Arnalds won the prestigious BAFTA Television Craft Award for his score to the BBC's hit detective series 'Broadchurch'.




This Place Is A Shelter
Ólafur Arnalds Lyrics


Instrumental

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
Most interesting comments from YouTube:

@sethroy4318

The moment I saw this, a poem began to well up inside me. Then I scrolled down and saw all the poems.
Something about this just evokes poetry from people. So I humbly add my little submission:

i return
to the water from which i was born
the water which brought you, like Venus, to me
the water which washes my footsteps, washes all traces of me
as the tide, relentless,
ever and ever, goes
and returns

i return
the gift of you to this water
and complete the circle
the grave is but the womb again
this darkness is that darkness
this water is that water
and shall shelter us, as that did
till our souls be reborn in light
and return



@BuGMosher

This inspired me to write a poem:


This place was a Shelter
My body was a temple of Wonder.
Every day a delight.
Each breath was a symphony
I grew strong in the light.

Then in one crashing moment
You pulled apart every timber, every stone.
Crumbling dreams.
Crumbling home.
For years I wandered like a worm
Wasting in the harshness of the sun.
My songs were moans
From the injustice you've done.

Yet in the quiet moments, from the darkness I sought
I turned to witness others
I learned from those who had fought
And slowly my hands
Reached to find stones.

Now with each passing year
Stronger and stronger I build
A new shelter from the storms
And with each passing year
A new piece of me is born.

- Christina Marvel



@willtravelforsushi1816

Nice poem, I was amused to see. This song also inspired me to write a poem about childhood:
I used to lie under waves.
Dancing, rippling, water glassy stare into the light.
Diffused and comforting.
Sound deafened- floating space.
Begging my flesh to stay under the surface-safe until. Until.
Exploding. Stabbing Ice. Capturing as much as I could
to sink again down, down.
Forever.



All comments from YouTube:

@leja2

This is one of those songs you listen to for so long that you already know every note of it, and than you get tired of it. You leave it in your playlist for sometime and when accidentally (or not) you listen to it again you think "this music is just too awesome". Eventually you repeat this cycle over again and again ^^

@KenZShadower

i never get tired of it tho...

@dj311292

Literally just doing that

@zhuzhpilishvili3381

so accurate

@ARKIUM

I concede....

@RaniaDiish

I always end up coming back to this track ...

@californiatimes1

Here you are again...

@aquietsky

You aren't alone.

@blowitoutyourcunt7675

I found this song on a Battlestar Galactica fan video playlist, this is one of the songs thats stuck with me over 5 yrs later.

@gvlte7445

Same

More Comments

More Versions