She may look like an Icelandic angel and chirp like a delicate songbird, but there’s a steely spine to Ólöf Arnalds.

Ok, so she’s hardly Wolverine - that was adamantium, anyway - but try to mess with her music and the claws will definitely come out. If, for example, her label suggested putting a few more English songs on her next record, to help with radio play, would she take that on board? “It would not have an effect,” she says, sternly, and fixes Clash with an icy stare. Point taken.

Ólöf is signed to One Little Indian, the label behind Bjork, and Ms. Gudmundsdottir’s guest spot on the new album ‘Innundir Skinni’ has already helped raise her friend’s profile. But from here it’s all about Arnald’s almost magical mastery of melody, whether in Icelandic, English or the international language of ‘la, la la la, la’. It’s all spellbindingly hypnotic and unlike anything you’ve heard before. In fact, one could easily assume that Arnalds had never experienced modern music before making her own.

“That’s not so far from the truth,” she smiles, “because I was raised in a home that was not very exposed to popular culture, and most of the music played was classical music. Or no music.”

There’s something to be said for keeping a clear head, although be warned, Arnalds’ choruses can fill any cranial vacuum by rotating around it for several hours. And her output isn’t to everyone’s taste.

“People usually have a strong opinion, they either really like it or really hate it,” she concludes. “I don’t often get ‘ah, that’s nice.’”

And nor would she want it.

Words by Si Hawkins