Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds has let her pure, keening voice drift far from the acoustic folk that first defined it on 2007's Við og Við. With each record, she's sought out new contexts for herself, and while the prevailing mood of her music—glowing, kind, and forthright—remains unchanged, the sounds have shifted dramatically behind her. "Half Steady", from her forthcoming Palme, is by far the most dramatic leap: The album was shaped closely with her frequent collaborators, Gunnar Örn Tynes of múm and Skúli Sverrisson, and the song is a busy little factory of polyrhythms—Arnalds' voice surfs calmly on top, a kindergarten teacher surveying a room full of unruly robots.