Kiasmos

II Reworked Kiasmos

"Following the release of their second album, II, in July 2024 to critical and fan acclaim, Kiasmos toured four continents, performing to sold-out audiences around the world over the next 18 months. Now, the duo, Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen, have invited some of their favourite artists on a completely reworked version of the record.

The two friends entrusted the task to LA-based composers/producers/multi-instrumentalists Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith (AKA Disiniblud), fellow Icelandic composers Kjartan Holm and Sin Fang, and long-time friend and American composer Alex Somers. The result is a sprawling and shimmering trip back through the album’s melodies, with a dream-like haze more suited for after the dancefloor and when the lights have faded.

The entirety of II has been reworked in sequence by the artists, each bringing their own distinctive colouring to the original songs. Nayar and Keith use electronic experimentation to reshape the emotional core, unveiling and highlighting stems that lay in the background of their original forms. Holm and Fang emphasise the simple beauty of the compositions, while Somers, working with analogue studio equipment, detunes pianos and strings and slows the pieces down, allowing the songs to reach new emotional heights.