Never before pressed on vinyl, IBM 1401, A User's Manual, is one of Jóhann Jóhannsson's most beloved works. Released in 2006, the decade since it's release has seen Jóhann establish himself as one of the most important composers in the world, notably scoring movies such as Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Sicario and The Theory of Everything. Johann's scores have been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Grammy and three BAFTA awards. He was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for The Theory Of Everything. Inspired by the work his father did in the '60s when chief maintenance engineer of one of Iceland's first computers, Jóhann originally wrote IBM 1401, A User's Manual to accompany a dance piece by long-standing collaborator and friend, Erna Ómarsdóttir. For the album release, he rewrote the piece for a 60-piece string orchestra, with a new final movement (built around a poem by Dorothy Parker) and incorporating both electronics and reel-to-reel recordings made by his father and friends in 1971 of the IBM 1401 mainframe computer singing the hymn "Ísland Ögrum Skorið" by Sigvaldi Kaldalóns as it was being decommissioned.