Live Performance - Ótal

Óskar Þór Arngrímsson is an Iceland-born, Akron-based musician, sound artist, and composer. For his music he uses the artist name Ōtal. Ōtal is an Icelandic word meaning a large unknown number, a myriad, and something that is unspoken or incapable of being described by language. He operates under this concept when creating his work, searching for the indescribable. Primarily writing electronic ambient music on his modular synthesizer, he also collaborates with musicians on projects. Óskar has been active as a musician since his first band involvement in 2001. He holds a degree in sound engineering from the School of Audio Engineering Institute in London, followed by a focused study in drums at Félag Íslenskra Hljómlistarmanna, and in 2022 he completed a degree in music composition at the Iceland University of the Arts. He has performed at various music festivals and venues in Iceland and Europe, and since moving to the US in 2023, has performed at the Re:Sound festival through CUSP in Cleveland, and wrote and performed music for Hildur Jónsson’s exhibition Micro/Macro at the Kent State Museum. The music from this exhibition was released as his album titled ‘Heyr,’ which has been played multiple times on Star’s End ambient radio show from WXPN in Philadelphia. Heyr has also been released as a special Japanese edition for a boutique record store in Japan, called Heima Records. Forthcoming, he will be performing twice in Philadelphia this autumn and will be releasing a second album.