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Kiasmos, Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen, invite five trusted artists to completely reimagine their critically & publicly acclaimed second album, II.

In July 2024 Kiasmos returned with their second album, II, to critical and fan acclaim. The album took Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen across four continents over the next 18 months, playing to sold-out audiences. Now the duo have entrusted five artists to completely reimagine it.

II Reworked will be released on vinyl and CD on July 3rd, with a digital release following on August 7th. Kiasmos and Erased Tapes are partnering with selected independent record shops worldwide to invite fans to come and listen to the full album together the evening before the album’s physical release.

Arnalds and Rasmussen, together with executive producer Robert Raths, invited long-time friend and composer Alex Somers, producers/multi-instrumentalists duo Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith (aka Disiniblud), and fellow Icelandic composer duo Kjartan Holm and Sin Fang to rework the entire album. The result is a sprawling and shimmering trip back through the record’s melodies, with a dream-like daze more suited for after the dancefloor and when the lights have faded.

Talking about the project, Ólafur and Janus says: “There are so many layers within this music, and we were curious to see what might emerge when other artists shone a light on them. Bringing together this dream team felt very special. It was fascinating to discover what each artist connected with and what rose to the surface through their perspective.”

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 through a more ambient and drone-led lens, honing in on each delicate moment and extracting something new, while Somers, working with analogue studio equipment, detunes pianos and strings and slows the pieces down, allowing the songs to reach new emotional heights.

The reworkers, in turn, have picked visual artists to expand on what they created with their own unique view of the world, in the form of a complete set of visuals for the album's 11 songs: Japanese video artist and musician Takagi Masakatsu creating his first hazy images in almost 10 years, Portland-based Jayden Becker's colourful stop-motion flickers us through Nayar & Keith's five reworks, and Icelandic filmmaker Kjartan Trauner's raw VHS footage shows us life in inner city Reykjavík.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A superb suite of reworks and reinterpretations of Kiasmos' spellbinding second outing, the imaginatively titled 'II'. I've always been a huge fan of the project (and a big fan of Arnalds), and this sort of tactical disassembly of the source material feels like a natural step in development from their smooth, evocative dancefloor electronica.

Album Listening Party

EXPERIENCE THE FULL ALBUM, TOGETHER WITH OTHERS, BEFORE ANYONE ELSE

On Thursday the 2nd of July at 4pm we'll be hosting a listening party for the new album from Kiasmos, 'II Reworked'. 

Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase the album one day early, with some exclusive, high-quality Erased Tapes tote bags, screen-printed with the Erased Tapes office mantra: “You are welcome to slow down" also up for grabs - plus other goodies!

TRACK LISTING

1. Grown (Alex Somers Rework)
2. Burst (Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith Rework)
3. Sailed (Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith Rework)
4. Laced (Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith Rework)
5. Bound (Alex Somers Rework)
6. Sworn (Alex Somers Rework)
7. Spun (Kjartan Holm & Sin Fang Rework)
8. Flown (Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith Rework)
9. Told (Kjartan Holm & Sin Fang Rework)
10. Dazed (Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith Rework)
11. Squared (Kjartan Holm & Sin Fang Rework)