GABRÍEL ÓLAFS ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM POLAR AND NARRATED COMPANION ALBUM POLAR: TRAVELER’S LOG RELEASING ON FEBRUARY 28
A SCIENCE-FICTION WORLD BROUGHT TO LIFE
PRE-ORDER POLAR HERE
PRE- ORDER POLAR: TRAVELER’S LOG
2-TRACK SINGLE “WHALE OVERTURE” OUT NOW
LISTEN HERE & WATCH MUSIC VIDEO HERE
EPK “Polar: Building A World” OUT NOW
WATCH HERE
07 FEBRUARY 2025 (TORONTO, ON) — Today, accomplished Icelandic composer, Gabríel Ólafs, announces his sixth studio album, Polar, and the album’s narrated story-telling companion, Polar: Traveler’s Log. Both albums will be released on February 28 via Decca Records US. The unforgettable world of Polar is an imaginary place Gabríel Ólafs has been dreaming about for years and was finally able to bring to life through his music.
Listen to the 2-track single, “Whale Overture” here, watch the accompanying music video here, and the official “Polar: Building A World” EPK here.
Imagine a planet covered in ice, snow, and tundra, its mountains so vast they are visible from space. Then imagine traveling alone around its incredible landscape. You hear the haunting song of whales but find no human life. Apart from that are the traces of a mysterious lost civilization, which has left behind only frozen monolithic pyramids. This is the world of Polar.
Discovering the right palette of sounds to evoke Polar’s icy world was key. Ólafs knew the Reykjavík Orkestra, which he co-founded several years ago, and conductor Viktor Orri Árnason were the right musicians for the job.
“They are able to capture a very cold but still emotional, iconic Icelandic string sound, which I wanted,” says Ólafs. “No one does it better than them.” To this, he’s added the king of instruments: the organ. “It very much captures this futuristic but also very ancient sound, which I think is very Polar.”
Ólafs uses the distinctive element of Whalesong throughout the album, in part because of his childhood fascination with the water-loving mammal often seen on the frozen Icelandic shores. The young composer, however, did not want to sample actual whale calls, and instead used the sounds of various instruments, including the cello, lap steel, and pedal steel guitars.
For this record, Ólafs wanted to think beyond the music to create a unique multimedia experience. Polar was shaped by his love and respect for “beautiful, complex” video monoliths – the mysterious pyramids left by a lost civilization – that Ólafs had imagined.
“I wanted to make a classical piece from that, and I melded it with my interest in video games as an art form. These days video games have beautiful artwork and complex stories. Music is created for a specific zone within a game. It creates the mood and you’re encapsulated by a sound world.”
By exploring what would happen if that principle was applied to classical music, Ólafs discovered a sound that touched on the meditation, beauty, and sadness of life and death.
To further help create that unique experience he was looking for, Ôlafs brought on Rebecca Roanhorse, the New York Times-bestselling speculative fiction author, to write the original story Polar: Traveler’s Log. The “Traveler’s Log” version of the album features a bespoke story, narrated by leading Icelandic actor Hera Hilmar, interwoven with Ólafs’ music.
Gabríel Ólafs ear for melodic musical storytelling and holistic creative vision set him apart as a true visionary of postmodern classical music. Polar is one of Ólafs most ambitious projects to date, creating a fantastical world where the sky's the limit and new horizons are sure to be found.
Polar Tracklist:
1. ENTRANCE
2. WHALE OVERTURE
2. THE WAVES
4. TÚNDRA
5. THE WINDS
6. THE MONOLITH
7. WHALE VARIATION
8. VORTEX
9. OCEAN SONATA FOR HARP
10. ELEGY
11. THE TRUE MEANING OF FOREVER
12. CODA
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