NEW ALBUM A DAWNING FROM ÓLAFUR ARNALDS AND TALOS OUT NOW
WATCH ‘A DAWNING’ HERE / LISTEN HERE
Lead Press Shot [Credit: Bríd O' Donovan]
11 JULY 2025 (TORONTO, ON) — Today sees the release of A Dawning, a deeply moving collaborative album from Icelandic composer and producer Ólafur Arnalds and the late Irish artist Eoin French, known to many as Talos. What began as a shared creative venture evolved into a powerful reflection on friendship, grief, and artistic exploration following French’s passing last summer.
Alongside the release of the album, today sees the release of the music video and single ‘A Dawning’ - watch here.The video is a poetic, observational film built around a series of living tableaus that trace connection, presence, and quiet resilience from West Cork to Reykjavík and the surrounding areas – told through real people, real places, their memories, celebrations and the slow transformation that follows loss. It is a celebration of life and the things that make it worth living. Director Níall O’Brien says, “I’ve always felt that the idea of life moving on was something I took from this. No matter how hard things get, we keep going. This film lets us observe the richness of life in its simplicity, and how that simplicity becomes epic when you really consider what it means to live. The glory of living is in the minutiae.”
Ólafur and Eoin first began working on the album in 2023 after both were invited to take part in a residency at the Sounds from a Safe Harbour Festival in Cork. A fast bond was formed, with sessions taking place between Arnalds’ Reykjavík studio and French’s home in West Cork. But when French became gravely ill during a visit to Iceland, the collaboration took on new emotional weight. After his passing in August 2024, Arnalds completed the record in honour of the music they made together — and the friendship they built. Ólafur shares, “At its core this is an album about the importance of community. How making music is at its heart a service to our community, including ourselves. These songs tell the story of a beautiful friendship in its entirety and throughout everything we went through they became a place of solace, a reason to meet, a place to pour our grief into. It is a celebration of life and the time we shared together - as friends and as a community.”
Leading up to the album’s release, they shared a series of singles, including most recent single ‘Bedrock’ featuring Indonesian-Filipino artist Sandrayati, as well as ‘Signs’, which highlights Talos’ vocal presence in its purest form. Built on fragile textures and subtle electronics, Signs captures the spirit of their early sessions — exploratory, undefined, yet already emotionally charged. The project was first introduced with the luminous We Didn’t Know We Were Ready, featuring Niamh Regan, Ye Vagabonds, and a choir of friends. The track received a powerful debut performance on RTÉ’s The Tommy Tiernan Show in January, where Arnalds and the featured musicians were joined on stage by Dermot Kennedy, The Staves, and others for an emotional live performance.
A Dawning stands as a monument to Talos’ legacy, his community, and the extraordinary bond he and Arnalds shared, musically and emotionally.
A Dawning Tracklist:
1. Shared Time
2. Signs
3. Bedrock feat. Sandrayati
4. west cork, 12 feb
5. Borrowed Time feat. Alexi Murdoch
6. A Dawning
7. for Steph
8. We Didn’t Know We Were Ready feat. Niamh Regan and Ye Vagabonds