AFTER NINE YEARS, SIGUR RÓS RETURN TO HIT THE GROUND RUNNING FOR LP EIGHT
AHALF-HOUR drive from Reykjavík, in the converted swimming pool that was Sigur Rós’ studio for a decade before their former keyboard player Kjartan Sveinsson took it over, the Icelandic post-rock ensemble are buckling down to forge their first studio album since Kveikur in 2013.
“It was normal for us to take a break before, for two or three years,” reports bassist Georg Hólm. “I guess it’s abnormal being nine, but things happened. And maybe we’d
have been further along if it wasn’t for Covid.”
“Things happened” is an understatement. It’s been a tumultuous time for a band whose majestic post-rock fission felt more suited to stargazing than matters on the ground. In 2016, Sigur Rós were charged with tax evasion: all charges and fines were repaid whilst citing their accountant’s “mishandling” of affairs, but were recharged – Icelandic law allows ‘double jeopardy’ – and acquitted.
Wanting out of the country during negotiations, their world tour lasted a back-breaking 18 months; on their return, drummer Orri Páll Dýrason was accused of sexual assault and left the band. Singer/ guitarist Jónsi moved to Los Angeles, ostensibly to work on his second solo album, but he and Sveinsson decided to write together again, more for pleasure than any game plan. But when Hólm heard what they’d been recording, “I thought, I can be part of it,” he says.
“Initially, it was nothing to do with Sigur Rós, but with time it became the obvious way forward, Georg brings so much energy,” says Sveinsson, who is officially back in the fold after nine years’ absence. “There is a saying in Icelandic,” he adds, “and in English too, that we have hit the ground running.”
That said, the album still lacks a title, song titles and lyrics, all typical afterthoughts in Sigur Rós-world. All they’ll reveal is another forthcoming session at London’s Abbey Road to record orchestral parts (last heard on a Sigur Rós record in 2008), on top of “our same elements, the bold guitar and piano and Georg’s fat bass sounds,” says Sveinsson. “Will there be drums? Possibly not.”
Hólm: “I don’t feel this record is going to be an aggressive one like Kveikur. For the time being at least.”
“Everything seems quite open-ended,” adds Sveinsson. “For example, today we recorded a lot of electronics. In the end, it might be completely different. That’s very Sigur Rós.”
One thought that the band are keeping in mind is a favourite saying of their former producer, the late Ken Thomas: “He’d say, ‘Music is just moving air’,” recalls Hólm. “Music that comes out of amps sounds different to what comes out of a machine.”
Jónsi: “We want not to just make it sound good but to capture the soul of a performance.”
With a world tour starting April 30, the trio know they have a finite time to capture their soul on this occasion. “It’s worrying and I’m having nightmares about it, but it’s kind of fun too,” Holm grins. “It’s good to be busy again.”
“Will there be drums? Possibly not.” KJARTAN SVEINSSON