TAKK…

JÓNSI: We’re always grateful! I think because some people saw darkness within the brackets album, we wanted to make explicit that we were projecting a message of positivity. HÓLM: We thought it might be fun to do something a little more upbeat and uptempo. Not all the record is like that, but there are definitely shiny parts. We were relaxed and in a very good place. SVEINSSON: I remember us writing “Hoppípolla”. We were always mucking about with the computer and made a backwards string loop from “Flugufrelsarinn”, from Ágaetis Byrjun, and built on it. Jónsi wrote the piano part. HÓLM: Basically, we just started jamming to this soundbite, and “Hoppípolla” got born. It just happened; it didn’t take much effort. Even with the soundbite, we were saying, “This is going to be a hit song!” We had this gut feeling that there was something beautiful there. SVEINSSON: We had loads of arguments about that song, actually. We never argued so much about any song. I wasn’t happy with the length of the loop; the other boys wanted it a couple of beats longer than I did. In the end, I won! We were never very diplomatic. With other people, yes, but with each other, it would just depend on how passionate you were. JÓNSI: We go through phases with that song. We haven’t been playing it on this tour, but no doubt we will do again at some point in the future.