Jóhann Jóhannsson - 12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann | John Lewis's contemporary album of the month

The Guardian 60

(Deutsche Grammophon)
Jóhannsson’s piece, inspired by artist Heinzmann, lacks the composer’s electronic trademarks, but it is full of poignant beauty in this reworking by Echo Collective

Since his death in February 2018 aged 48, the Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson seems to have spawned a posthumous catalogue to rival Tupac Shakur’s. In the last 18 months, we’ve seen five film soundtracks that were completed shortly before his death, an expanded version of his debut album Englabörn, and an epic seven-disc Retrospective of early film soundtracks, including several previously unreleased scores (Retrospective II will follow soon). Also being unearthed from the archives is an album of fractured synth-pop that he recorded in 1999 under the name Dip, featuring assorted Icelandic indie royalty including Sugarcubes drummer Sigtryggur Baldursson, Jónsi from Sigur Rós and Emiliana Torrini.