Gabríel Ólafs

Creative Direction, Motion Direction and Commissioning for the global marketing campaign to support the release of SOLON ISLANDUS by Icelandic composer Gabríel Ólafs.

When Decca Records came to me with this 23 year old composer’s stunning concept album, Solon Islandus, I was blown away. The album was created in homage to the works of writer David Steffanson, Iceland’s poet laureate of early 20th century literature. Written for full orchestra with passages featuring a traditional choir and elements of spoken word, Gabríel made classical music that felt both otherworldly and very, very modern.

To support the release of the album I directed a short form documentary entitled “The Story of Solon Islandus” to explain the concept, commissioned a stunning portrait shoot with photographer Anna Maggy - plus two complementary video series - all captured on location in Reykjavik. We drew from the deep well of imagery in David Steffanson’s works and honed in on the motif of the ever present Icelandic raven.

The first video series was a four song suite of visualizers created by artist Heimir Hlöðversson. Using macro motion photography Heimir’s process involves the exploration of chemical reactions of various liquids and pigments. Watching they feel like vast nebulas or galaxies exploding, or perhaps a powerful flow of lava into the sea - when in fact all the action is on a glass plate the size of your palm.

The second was a four song live performance series, filmed and recorded at famed Harpa Concert Hall by director Blair Alexander with the music arranged by Gabríel for piano and string quartet. In addition to commissioning the series I designed and made their costumes, bringing my artistic collaboration with Gabríel full circle.

Takk, Gabríel. I’m so proud of what we made x