“I love old movies and stories. I enjoy the fact that film scores demand a piece of music to have emotional depth. It has to convey multiple emotions and therefore has its part in telling a story.”

Gabríel Ólafs possesses an exceptional talent for telling a stirring symphonic story through instrumental music. At just 19, the composer and pianist wowed viewers and a live audience on Icelandic TV during his first ever live performance, where he was discovered by Björk’s manager Derek Birkett and picked up by Max Richter’s agent Steve ‘Abbo’ Abbott, announcing a record deal with One Little Independent Records shortly after.

Ólafs is expert in the art of tension, creating a lingering breath in between the gaps – something he observes about good movies. Debut single ‘Absent Minded’ expresses those lost-in-thought moments, the daydreams, the imaginary worlds we create in our quietest hours. Called so, because people have always referred to Olafs as ‘absent minded’; “I like to imagine things and let my mind drift off” he says. “The piece is very personal to me – I’ve had this melody in my head ever since I was 14, and I finally completed the piece this year.”