NOWHERE SESSIONS Snorri Hallgrímsson | Deutsche Grammophon

Icelandic composer Snorri Hallgrímsson’s upcoming album Nowhere Sessions is a deeply personal work that captures a rare moment of stillness.  

The work was recorded in a secluded cabin in the Icelandic countryside, a place surrounded by vast landscapes and new-total silence that has belonged to his family for decades. Far removed from studios and cities, the cabin stands “somewhere in the nowhere” of Iceland. For Hallgrímsson, it is not only a retreat but a place of memory and continuity. Choosing to record there was both a creative and emotional decision. The isolation shaped the session profoundly, allowing space, silence, and breath to become part of the recordings themselves.  

The album was filmed and recorded with close friends, emphasizing trust, intimacy, and shared presence over technical perfection. Hallgrímsson performs his own piano parts, accompanied by subtle, carefully arranged strings. In one track, he also lends his voice — used sparingly, almost as another instrument — adding a fragile human layer to the soundscape.  

Known for his quiet and introspective style, Hallgrímsson’s music unfolds slowly. The compositions are melancholic but never heavy, restrained yet deeply expressive. “The Nowhere Sessions are raw, honest, intimate, and calm. My hope is that through them the listener can experience at least some of the calm this place gives me,” says Hallgrímsson. 

Listen to a third pre-release track, his meditative original piece The White Blur Was a Fox. The full album is released digitally on 29 May.