Never Enough Notes e-zine // reviews + interviews + music

In a true trobairitz style, Ólöf Arnalds follows up her stunning, solo debut album (produced by Sigur rós’ Kjartan Sveinsson), Við Og Við, with this enchanting lullaby of a single. This song is waking up to a heat-engulfed morning, sweaty and promising, drinking Tropicana. It’s that blissfully sweet sunshine washing over your skin.

Arnalds, sister of composer, Ólafur Arnalds, paints a picture with incredible, almost childish ease. With playful sincerity, she tells the tale of ‘being fat’. Sadly, these common English ears do not understand the lyrics but it is undeniable that her critically acclaimed voice is mesmerizing, regardless of language. If anything, her Icelandic tongue makes this single even more mystically enchanting.

Accompanied solely by her classical guitar, she gives the song summer wings. If it were an animal, it would, without a doubt, be a bird. The song flows so freely from chord to chord, pulling you back to your childhood days when things were carefree and dreamlike.

However, I feel as though this track is too simplistic. It gives the sense of loneliness and isolation. Beyond the mellow vocals and guitar, there seems to be little else. The fun of dissecting the music is annoyingly removed. It lacks the substance that many of the songs on her album posses.

Although this track exudes sunshine, I doubt its subtle power will fade along with this fleeting British summer. It will carry your memories into the cold, autumn months when you are wrapped up in the five o’clock darkness with your oversized mug of hot chocolate. Innudir Skinni is a soul-warmer of a track.

8/10