The "stand-in" for Björk took place in 2002, when director Peter Jackson was filming The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. He had arranged for Iceland's biggest music star to sing Gollum's song, but Björk got pregnant and couldn't record her part. The production found Emilíana Torrini instead. She was in her third year on the market at the time and had her first internationally released album, Love in the Time of Science, which was taken under the wing of the One Little Indian label. Coincidentally, the same label that Björk has been releasing her albums on since the beginning of her solo career.
What preceded all this with Emilíana Torrini? Since childhood, choral singing, studying classical music and also a short stint in the Icelandic electronic group GusGus, with whom she recorded her debut album in 1997. But also two solo albums (now a rarity, as they were only released on her native island), on which she sings, in delicate acoustic arrangements, mostly taken songs from an unusually wide range of authors: Van Morrison, Lionel Richie, The Velvet Underground, Stevie Wonder and Tom Waits.
The turning point came in 1999 with the release of Love in the Time of Science, produced by Roland Orzabal of Tears For Fears. He also contributed to the album as a writer and additionally tuned it to trip hop sound. The success didn't wait long and opened the door to the singer's new label Rough Trade Records. Thanks to the singer's collaboration with producer Danny Carey, who proved to be an expert in developing a style that straddled the line between electronic and acoustic instruments, it became her signature label for a long time.But since Emilíana Torrini is not one of those artists who stay in one place for long, she has resorted to two other extremely stimulating and different collaborations. Firstly, with the Canadian DJ Kid Koala, who represents one of the most original artists of his kind, and secondly, with the Belgian band The Colorist Orchestra, with whom, after a series of successful live concerts captured on the album, she created her latest album Racing the Storm, released last year, in the studio. According to many, the best of her career so far.