Composing is a meditative process that I engage in with every piece I compose. However, it doesn’t feel like I’m starting a new journey with each composition, but rather picking up where I left off with the last one. This continuity is reflected in my music – one sound grows out of another, like the branches of a tree. Associations and encounters find their way directly into the music, be it in the form of narration, atmosphere or structure. It’s a kind of conscious translation process that I gratefully allow to happen without using force or arguing overly intellectually. All the techniques I have learned are at the service of this unstoppable movement that never dictates the flow.

When I examine the DNA of my artistic development, I would say that there are two main factors that have influenced me. One of them is that I was born in Iceland and grew up in a protected environment that gives you the feeling (or illusion) that you are free to do anything you want. On the other hand, moving to Estonia, where I study composition, has made me re-evaluate my previous outlook on life and art. The fresh, salty sea breeze was replaced by the smell of burning wood rising from the chimneys of the old houses near the forest, and the playful indie scene of Reykjavík was replaced by the sophisticated academic concert life in the old churches and guildhalls of Tallinn. It was the environment where I found my musical language, immersed myself in Eastern European art and history, traveled and made friends, connected deeply with the Estonians’ spiritual approach to music and its somewhat ancient character. One of those old souls I met is my wife Tui, who sings on this album. Our collaboration as singers and composers began immediately and has combined our professional and personal lives in a particularly fulfilling way.

The compositions on this album illustrate the change we have experienced in moving back to Iceland and continuing our lives there with a new perspective. The oldest piece on the album was composed in 2011, when we were living the slow life of young parents in the rural environment of Tallinn, while the newest piece was composed in Iceland and premiered in Berlin in 2018. The lyrics that were chosen for the compositions very aptly show my influences during that time. Stalker, Tarkovsky’s famous screenplay from which I borrowed the monologue, was shot in Tallinn and cleverly features references to Estonia’s troubled history. Stalker, Tarkovsky’s famous screenplay from which I borrowed the monologue, was shot in Tallinn and cleverly features references to Estonia’s troubled history. Other texts are by the Icelandic artist and poet Ásdís Sif Gunnarsdóttir, with whom I have collaborated on numerous occasions. In the album’s title poem, Atonement, Ásdís Sif sensitively describes the feeling of reconnecting with oneself and finding inner peace. The word itself – atonement – points to my approach to composition in music and in life.