As if forming aural clouds from the natural elements around him, the music on the album gathers acoustic guitar, piano, and warm electronics across the twelve song set.
"It's just quiet," Axel explains. "There are so many times where the silence is so still.
"In Reykjavík, we have a lot of emotional and mental space. My path to the studio and running trail is just by the ocean, so I'm always by the sea, hence the title.
"When I moved back in late 2018, I felt settled. I wasn't looking for anything anymore. I finally appreciate home and see the beauty in it."
He needed to leave to reach this realisation. Born and raised in the tiny Northern fishing village of Húsavík, Axel recorded his first EP Forest Fires, it was here where the songs were written under the influence of everything from Bon Iver to Bombay Bicycle Club.
With its success, Axel left Húsavík and signed to a major record label in the Netherlands.
At 19 years old, he moved into his first apartment and "felt so isolated."
He admits, "I was supposed to be in a music mecca, but I never left the apartment."
"So, he traded Amsterdam for Brighton where he recorded his Youthful Hearts EP.
Living in Brighton gave Axel
"the clarity to move to Iceland." Axel
returned to Iceland and chose to plant roots in Reykjavík.
Tapping into the D.I.Y. spirit of his earliest recordings, but with a sense of refinement and newfound wisdom, Axel carefully assembled the album with renowned producer Ian Grimble.
"The ultimate goal was to bind together my old way of writing songs with what I've learned and made it sound like one collective," he elaborates.
"Some of these ideas go back to my bedroom in Húsavík, but many of them are fresh and new. I pictured myself on a journey."
Axel Flóvent's new album 'You Stay By The Sea' is out now.