And then recently I've gotten into taking pictures of birds. I'm a photographer, and during COVID especially, I got into taking pictures of macro photography, which is really hyper close-up photography of flowers and insects. But yeah, this one, we just we had so many songs we needed to get done. But actually, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, we did one session in Studio One where we had like a full orchestra, like 90-something people and did a live recording there. Yeah, for this album, we pre-recorded our parts and then bring them to the studio and then they play over that, basically. So when you go and do this in Abbey Road, are you there playing with the orchestra or are you bringing recordings that you did in your basement? So it's fun for guys from Iceland to go there. I went to Studio Two where the Beatles did all their stuff. It's always fun to go to Abbey Road to record. Kjarri did the string arrangement and stuff like that. We went to Abbey Road in London to record with the London Contemporary Orchestra with Rob Ames, who is a conductor there. ![]() So then this sound on this record is obviously more than a few people getting together. I think that's always kind of the nicest thing, when things come from somewhere above and you just grab it and it becomes a song. We don't make plans or talk too much about it. But yeah, I think we have this nice ability to not communicate to each other, and not talk. I mean, we have been in a band now for 28 years? This is a little bit crazy. I'm thinking about three old friends who've been playing music together since they were, well, probably teenagers, right? What is it that you bring out of each other when you get together that's different than something you might do on your own? But to me, it's also like coming back to Iceland on, like, the perfect, beautiful summer day where the sun is shining and you lay in the moss and just breathe in. It kind of feels like it's somebody drawing his last breath or he's dying or he's taking a bow. You're singing in Icelandic in this song - can you tell me a little about what you're singing? ![]() So it's nice to see that opposite of the bleak, colorless Icelandic nature with this extremely pink, vibrant herbs. It means "creeping thyme." It's these little herbs, they grow in the highlands in Iceland and they're pretty pink and very fragrant. He got involved and it became more of an album. Kjartan came here and we wrote a few ideas, and then he went back and then COVID hit. the three of you get together right away? You just play and feel like nothing has changed over the years and things come out and you start writing songs and melodies and I guess that was the beginning of the new album. It's kind of amazing to play with old friends because it feels so natural somehow. We had my guitar with a cello bow and effects, and he rented a Yamaha CP70, like an electric piano strings and harps, and we basically started to play. Kjartan, keyboard player, that hadn't been in the band for 10 years, came to visit me in LA and we did like, did a kind of recording jam session in my basement. Jónsi: I think it was kind of like an accident. ![]() This interview has been edited for length and clarity.īob Boilen: So what inspired you all to get back together and start making music again? So what brought this group back together after all these years? That's where my conversation with Jónsi begins. It's what I think music does better than any other medium and these three dear friends from Iceland have found a way to be both expressive and welcoming. This music creates a world I can all dive into and interpret in ways that feel personal and not dictated. These are sonic adventures, not a stream of love songs or songs about someone's feelings or observations. They make the kind of music that I yearn for, that not that many artists make. (Sveinsson departed the group earlier, in 2012.)Ī new Sigur Rós album is always a thrill to me. Sigur Rós released its previous studio album, Kveikur, in 2013, and then its members split to work on separate projects. It's amazing to think of these three musicians, playing this music since they were in their teens or early 20s, finding their way back together. In order to create this magnificent album the three bandmates - Jón Þór Birgisson (Jónsi) on vocals and cello bowed guitar along with multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson (Kjarri) and bassist Georg Hólm (Goggi) - first reunited in Jónsi's basement, before finally making their way to Abbey Road Studios where they teamed up with the London Contemporary Orchestra and conductor Robert Ames. When I spoke with Jónsi last week, I learned that the band made its way back together slowly, over a few years. It is the band's eighth studio album their first came out 26 years ago. ![]() Courtesy of the artist The cover art of ÁTTA by Sigur Rós
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