Icelandic composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Ólafur Arnalds earned a reputation in the late 2000s for blending luminous neo-classical works with subtle elements of post-rock, pop, and electronic music, recording a series of highly regarded releases for the Erased Tapes label, including 2007's Eulogy for Evolution and ...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness. In addition to forming the experimental techno duo Kiasmos with Faroese-Icelandic minimalist Janus Rasmussen, he also branched out into film and television soundtracks, earning acclaim for his scores to the films Another Happy Day and Gimme Shelter as well as the BBC series Broadchurch. Meanwhile, Arnalds continued to explore the classical world on collaborative projects like 2014's The Chopin Project with cellist Alice Sara Ott and an ongoing set of releases with German composer Nils Frahm. He returned to solo work in 2018 with the experimental release re:member. He issued the intimate, Grammy-nominated some kind of peace in 2020, followed two years later by the soundtrack for the psychological thriller TV miniseries Surface.

Having begun his music career as the drummer for a series of Icelandic metal bands, Arnalds' entry into the neo-classical field was somewhat accidental. After the German band Heaven Shall Burn heard some solo demo material, they asked him to provide piano-and-string pieces for their 2004 album Antigone. Robert Raths, founder of the newly formed Erased Tapes label, heard the record and was impressed with Arnalds' contributions, and the label contacted the composer about recording a full album of material in that vein. The life-cycle concept album Eulogy for Evolution, released in 2007, was the result, with Arnalds -- primarily on piano -- supported by a string quartet. A trio of EPs followed in 2008 and 2009. Also in 2009, Arnalds formed the experimental techno duo Kiasmos with Janus Rasmussen of Bloodgroup. Kiasmos' first release was a split EP with Erased Tapes labelmate Rival Consoles.

In 2010, Arnalds provided the scores for the 13-minute short Blinky TM and the feature-length Órói (Jitters), and he also released ...And They Have Escaped the Weight of Darkness, his second proper album. His score for Sam Levinson's Another Happy Day (2011) greatly increased his profile, as he continued to release works like Stare (2012) -- a collaborative EP with Nils Frahm -- and Kiasmos' Thrown EP. He then began a partnership with Mercury Classics, which issued For Now I Am Winter (2013), his first album to include vocals. Later that year, Arnalds scored the BBC television series Broadchurch, which produced its own soundtrack. A digital download of the composer's score for Ronald Krauss' film Gimme Shelter was released in February 2014, followed by a physical release in April.

Kiasmos issued their self-titled debut album in October 2014. Two accompanying EPs, Swept and Looped, followed in 2015. Also that year, Arnalds collaborated with pianist Alice Sara Ott for The Chopin Project on Mercury Classics. He continued collaborating with Frahm on Erased Tapes, which issued the EPs Loon and Life Story/Love and Glory as well as the full-length Trance Frendz. All of these releases, as well as 2012 EP Stare, were compiled as the double-CD Collaborative Works. In 2016, Arnalds issued a volume of the LateNightTales mix series. The following year saw the release of the soundtrack album Broadchurch: The Final Chapter, which consisted of his score for the BBC series' last season.

The full-length re:member arrived in 2018 and featured unique custom-built software called Stratus, which incorporated two semi-generative player pianos triggered by Arnalds' own live piano playing. It debuted at number eight on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart. The composer received an Emmy nomination for his theme to the Apple TV+ miniseries Defending Jacob in 2020. With featured spots by British musician Bonobo (the Grammy-nominated "Loom"), Icelandic singer JFDR, and German singer/songwriter Josin, the intimate solo set some kind of peace followed on Mercury KX that November. In 2022, Arnalds composed the soundtrack for the psychological thriller miniseries Surface. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson

Nils Frahm is a German composer and musician whose work combines acoustic and electronic instruments with a primary focus on pianos and synthesizers. Both in studio and on-stage, his work employs vintage electronic gear as well as unconventional microphone placement and playing techniques, creating a unique, intimate sound. His recordings include solo piano works (such as 2009's The Bells), prepared piano compositions (2011's Felt), and melodic synthesizer-based pieces (2018's All Melody) in addition to soundtrack work (2015's Victoria). He has also produced experimental electro as part of the trio Nonkeen, and released collaborations with artists like F.S. Blumm, Anne Müller, Ólafur Arnalds, and DJ Shadow. His acclaimed concerts have been documented on releases like 2013's Spaces and 2020's Tripping with Nils Frahm. Two 2021 releases, Graz and Old Friends New Friends, consisted of previously unreleased piano works from his archives. Music for Animals, a three hour post-minimalist work containing no pianos, appeared in 2022.

Frahm's debut LP, Streichelfisch, combining heavy electronic glitch with acoustic instruments, was released in 2005 on his AtelierMusik label. My First EP followed in 2006, and Electric Piano, marking Frahm's shift to piano-based works, arrived in 2008. Two more solo piano works, Wintermusik (on Sonic Pieces) and The Bells (on Kning Disc), were well-received. Frahm began collaborating with many electronic and modern classical artists, including F.S. Blumm, Machinefabriek, Peter Broderick, and Anne Müller. The 2011 solo album Felt, featuring heavily atmospheric prepared piano compositions, arrived on Erased Tapes (home to most of Frahm's subsequent releases), along with the synthesizer-based single "Juno." The minimalist piano album Screws followed in 2012, and Frahm collaborated with Ólafur Arnalds on the Stare EP the same year. Juno Reworked, a 12" EP featuring both tracks from the "Juno" single as well as remixes by Luke Abbott and Clark, appeared in 2013.

Spaces, a live album consisting of field recordings of Frahm's performances over the course of two years, appeared toward the end of 2013, and was his most acclaimed recording to date, receiving high praise from numerous publications. His 2015 album Solo was initially released for free on March 29, a day Frahm declared to be "World Piano Day." He composed his first film score for the German single-take film Victoria in 2015. Later that year, Frahm produced an eclectic mix as part of the Late Night Tales mix CD series. In early 2016, he revisited his Screws album with Screws Reworked, a selection of remixes from fans and fellow musicians handpicked by Frahm himself. During that year, R&S released two albums by Nonkeen, an experimental trio consisting of Frahm and childhood friends Frederic Gmeiner and Sepp Singwald. Also in 2016, he released collaborations with Ólafur Arnalds (Trance Frendz), F.S. Blumm (Tag Eins Tag Zwei), and Woodkid (Ellis [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]).

After spending two years building a studio in Berlin, Frahm returned with the ambitious solo album All Melody in 2018, followed by a world tour. A series of Encores EPs, meant as companions to All Melody, were released individually and compiled as All Encores in 2019. Empty, an album of solo upright piano music originally recorded as the soundtrack to a short film in 2012, was released on World Piano Day in 2020. Later in the year, the composer issued Tripping with Nils Frahm, a recording of a concert at Funkhaus Berlin that kicked off the tour supporting All Melody. In 2021, Frahm released Graz, a debut album recorded for Erased Tapes that was postponed after the release of Felt. Frahm's own Leiter Verlag issued 2X1=4, a dub-inspired collaboration with Blumm, and Old Friends New Friends, a collection of mostly unreleased solo piano pieces recorded between 2009 and 2021. In 2022, Frahm reissued Streichelfisch and Electric Piano for the first time. He also released Durton, containing tracks from My First EP as well as several previously unissued compositions. He then released Music for Animals, a three-hour set of lengthy synthesizer compositions inspired by Erik Satie's concept of "furniture music." ~ Paul Simpson