Ólöf Arnalds Has a Trick for Smuggling Stuff Onto Airplanes

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} We’re thinking Icelandic chanteuse/multi-instrumentalist Ólöf Arnalds needs a nap.   

Arnalds -- whose voice Björk has described as “somewhere between a child and an old woman" -- was all over SXSW, playing at (among others) Brooklyn Vegan, Paste and Other Music parties, then she headed to the west coast for another string of dates, and now she’s in NYC with shows at Joe’s Pub on Saturday and City Winery on April 27. She fit this in while stockpiling awards for her album Innundir skinni, co-produced by Kjartan Sveinsson of Sigur Rós (and featuring a duet with the aforementioned Björk, which we've included below). Her next project: recording an EP of covers right here in NYC.

Name: Ólöf Arnalds
Age: 31
Lives in: Reykjavík
Occupation: Singer [So modest. - Ed.]
 
First real job?
Working for a month in a farm when I was 12.
 
First record you ever bought?
That was that same summer. I went to the village close to the farm and found a Best of the Doors CD.
 
Fill in the blank: If I ever get arrested, it'll be for________.
...a crime not yet invented.
 
Tell us a joke.
I don't know any. I'm more into real stories of personal embarrassment, word games and absurdity.
 
Your first NYC gig: Discuss.
It was at Bowery Ballroom with Múm many years ago, and it's where I met my closest collaborator ever since, Skúli Sverrisson.  
 
Top three songs in your iPod rotation?
I don't have an iPod.  

What do you splurge on?
Phone calls.
 
To when do you point your time machine?
The future.
 
Best meal you’ve ever had in NYC?
Spaghetti al limone at Little Frankie's.
 
What’s your drink?
White wine spritzer.
 
What’s your pre-show ritual?
Writing potential songs for the night, tuning endlessly, walking around the backstage room like a lion in a cage, putting on my makeup.
 
Do you Google yourself?
Every once in a while when I have absolutely NOTHING better to do.
 
Most treasured possession?
My cape. It's good for getting instruments unseen on board of airplanes.
 
Fill in the blank: In a previous life, I was ______.
Not here.
 
Your favorite thing about yourself?  
It varies from day to day, and usually has a flip side to it.  
 
Who are your heroes?
My friends.
 
What scares you?
Lack of space.
 
Fill in the blank: I’ll know I’ve really made it when ___________.
They do a parody of me on Icelandic TV.
  


--EB

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