Best Band In The World alert. Thank you Sigur Rós, for making my post-holiday transition back to the internet so super great. This morning word spread that Sigur Rós’s new album has a name (með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust), a translation (“with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly”), cheeky (as in ass-y) artwork, a sample track, a free MP3 (IT IS SO GOOD), and a video. A very NSFW video (IT IS ALSO SO GOOD). And there’s more: Jonsi’s gonna sing in English! On just one track, but still, pinning down the man’s emotional conveyances via syllables with actual meaning will be a fairly new experience. There will be one tune in the journalist-coined Hopelandic language, but the rest will all be in the band’s native Icelandic tongue, which makes the title of the first single and free download, “Gobbledigook,” ironic in its own Rós-colored way. The band’s released lots of information surrounding the release via official statement, which we’ve pasted in full post-jump for the benefit of fellow obsessives, but here are the details in nugget form [this is a so very Not Safe For Work jump, people]:
- The album is 6/23 worldwide and 6/24 in North America out via XL
- Preorders start 6/2 on sigurros.com. Early buyers will get a stream of the record a few weeks before it is available to the world at large.
- The album was produced by Flood and recorded in New York, London, Havana, Cuba, and at the band’s home studio in Reykjavík. It’s the first time a Sigur Rós album wasn’t recorded entirely in Iceland.
- There’s a song with the London Symphony and a boy’s choir, making for 90 people playing at once on the track.
- The band is “moving away from reverb-soaked guitar sounds,” and the album “contains some of the most joyous music the band has ever recorded.”
Now about that joyous music…
…and watch the song’s video at sigurros.com. The entire bundle is indeed joyous, and not at all what you’d expect from the band — for its hard-panning Sung Tonging acoustic strums, for its tribal and polyrhythmic rhythms, and most definitely for the overall love of nudity pervading the proceedings. Here’s a still from the swinging, hedonistic vid:
Which is in line with the fleshy album art:
We can Sigur asses, guys. The cover art is a photo by Ryan McGinley, who’s credited on the video as well. He’s been shooting the band for six years, and happened to send this photo from a flyer from his recent photo exhibit just when band needed some artwork.
Yes. Reinvention is a dish best served nude.
Here’s the tracklist:
01 “gobbledigook” · 3:05 mins
02 “inní mér syngur vitleysingur” · 4:05 mins
03 góðan daginn · 5:15 mins
04 við spilum endalaust · 3:33 mins
05 festival · 9:24 mins
06 suð í eyrum · 4:56 mins
07 ára bátur · 8:57 mins
08 illgresi · 4:13 mins
09 fljótavík · 3:49 mins
10 straumnes · 2:01 mins
11 all alright · 6:21 mins
Sigur on tour:
06/05 Guadalajara, MEX @ Teatro Degollado
06/07 Tepoztlan, MEX @ Festival La Colmena
06/08 Tijuana, MEX @ Planeta Tijuana
06/11 – Omaha, NE @ Orpheum Theater
06/12 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
06/14 – Manchester, TN @ (Bonnaroo)
06/16 – New York, NY @ Grand Ballroom
06/20 – Neuhausen ob Eck (Southside Festival)
06/22 – Scheesel, Bremen (Hurricane Festival)
And the full LP statement (via sigur-ros.co.uk):
sigur rós will release their fifth lp “með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” june 23rd worldwide (june 24th in north america). the album will be available to pre-order on sigurros.com on june 2nd and a live stream of the album will be available on june 9th for those who have pre-ordered.
“með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” was co-produced with the band by renowned producer flood, and was recorded in new york city (at sear sound studios), london (at assault and battery studios and abbey road), reykjavík (at álafoss, the band’s studio, as well as a church in reykjavík), and havana, cuba.
the album title is translated into english as “with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly” with the english spelling of the icelandic album title being “med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust”
whereas sigur rós’ last release “heima” took the band to their homeland, their newest creation is the first album in the band’s career to be made outside of iceland. it is also their first album to feature vocalist jónsi’s vocals in english on one track. in addition to the english, one of the album’s tracks is sung without lyrics (“hopelandic”) and the rest of the tracks are sung in icelandic.
inspired by the unfettered feeling of the acoustic performances filmed during heima, sigur rós decided to adopt a looser approach in the writing and creation of með suð. the material for the album was written, recorded and mixed entirely in 2008 and is being released just one month after its completion. the album glows with the perfect imperfection of live takes, the sounds of fingers playing guitar strings, cracked notes, and a stark, upfront presence not found in previous sigur rós recordings, moving away from reverb-soaked guitar sounds towards something altogether more affecting. the record also contains some of the most joyous music the band has ever recorded.
opener “gobbledigook” sets the tone for með suð í eyrum… with its shifting acoustic guitars, playful vocals, time signature swings and swirling percussion, while “inní mér syngur vitleysingur” (“within me a lunatic sings”) sparkles as one of the most anthemic songs sigur rós have ever written. “festival” is epic in its elation and scope, “illgresi” features one of jonsi”s finest vocal melodies over a lone acoustic guitar, and “ára bátur” is the largest musical undertaking in the band’s career, as it was recorded live in one take with the london sinfonietta and london oratory boy”s choir, a total of 90 people playing at the same time. the band also utilised the talents of their string-quartet friends amiina, as well as a five-piece brass section on certain tracks.
Also, a note on the artwork:
the spirit of með suð í eyrum… is reflected by the album’s artwork, contributed by acclaimed visual artist ryan mcginley. mcginley first met the band when he photographed jónsi six years ago; the album cover was taken from a flyer for mcginley’s most recent exhibit i know where the summer goes, which happened to find its way into jónsi’s inbox just as the band was deciding on how to best visually represent their new collection of songs.
með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly) is out 6/23 worldwide and 6/24 in North America via XL.
You Might Also Like
 See What Sigur Rós Looks Like On The Simpsons |  Sigur Rós To Appear On The Simpsons |  Sigur Rós – “Ísjaki” Lyric Video |  Coachella 2013 Weekend 2: Saturday’s 5 Best Things |
 |
 |
Leave a Reply
Sign in Sign in with FacebookYou must be logged in to post, reply to, or rate a comment.
Like Animal Collective covering Dave Matthews Band’s “Grey Street.” In Icelandic. In a good way.
Wow, you know what? You’re pretty right on, and that’s probably the first time anyone has ever successfully married a DMB reference with something other than frat rock. Can we expect a DMB / Sigur Ros / Animal Collective Xiu Xiu tour on the horizon?
I came.
Thanks Scott for confirming what my ears were hearing… Animal Collective and, surprisingly, Dave Matthews.
Before all the haters come in, let me say that I am incredibly happy with this. Not at all like I was expecting, and yet its still Sigur Ros somehow. Everything is way up front, for a change. I guess this is an example of how they were influenced by the recent acoustic sessions for heim.
Cant wait for the show on june 16th!
Flavor of the month type stuff here. Why must they go all tribal?
Because everyone else is doing it, I guess.
oh seriously how could i have forgotten that Dave Matthews invented the acoustic guitar and Animal Collective IS the original group drumming/vocals!?!!
silly me!
Everything this band creates is flawless. Out of the 53 Sigur Rós songs I have, I can’t think of one that I cringe or even frown upon when hearing.
EXCCEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLENNNNNNTTT
It’s the trend right now to be all tribal, and it saddens me to see a band like Sigur Ros changing it sound like everything else out there now.
they’re not changing their sound to conform. they’re changing it to EVOLVE.
So..they’re evolving into the latest trend in indie music?
It just makes me frustrated because they’re usually so unique and ahead of the curve..and now this.
It’s a decent enough song, though. But I believe I’ve already heard it this year, about 10 times on Dodo’s Visiter.
1. what makes you think you can judge an entire album based on one song? 2. why do you assume they’re trying to be trendy/trying to sound like the latest blog hit? do you know for a fact they were listening to the dodos/animal collective/anything else during the making of this album and were so influenced by that?
enjoy it. stop trying to fit it into some little box in your brain so you can justify why you dislike/like something.
I’m judging the song, not the album.
Y’know, I just typed out this long diatribe defending my opinion of this song, but I erased it because it’s not worth it. It’s not worth trying to defend an opinion over a fuckin’ song.
The video is quite enchanting. No, really.
I was describing this all day as DMB meets Of Montreal…”but no, in a good way”. It’s funny to see the same sentiment here.
This band always finds a way to evolve while making stunning music. Personally, I read the official statement and hear things like “one of Jonsi’s finest vocal melodies over acoustic guitar” and “sparkles as one of the most anthemic songs Sigur Ros have ever written” and I just know this album will be flawless.
PS
I don’t hear trendy tribal drumming. I hear a ridiculously talented drummer hitting the drums very hard for an extended period of time. This is nothing new for them. See: popplagið
Exactly. All I want on this new album is more example of Orri’s mad skills.
The best change they could have made was getting the percussion front and centre. 5 albums later, it’s about time really.
Also I think everyone describing a tribal beat as trendy is completely ignorant. It’s the most primal long-standing rhythm of human kind. Get over it.
this is like glaciers on crystal meth
Haha. Maybe that’s it. Maybe they were just sick and damn tired of being compared to GLACIERS.
arguing on the internet is lame.
NO ITS NOT!
That video makes me love humanity… and want to be naked.
Is it weird or coincidental that I read this song as “gobbledick” the first time I glanced at it?
It’s only you and yes you’re weird.
They brought back streaking. Just wait, the next video will feature CB Radios.
Perhaps some of you would prefer if they released another album just like the last one? But they’ll never do that, which is one of the reasons they’re the greatest band in the universe.
This is quite a departure and yet….still unmistakeably Sigur Ros.
It’s a wonderfully uplifting, totally mental track!
Can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.
Best band in the world ! I agree 100% ! I’ve just seen the video on facebook ! GREAT as always !
wow this is almost as good as routenote
WOW! this is almost as good as routenote!
WOW! this is almost as good as routenote!
WOW! this is almost as good as routenote!
The naked body. Why have I suddenly gotten shy about showing mine? Will Big shower me with material possessions, or will I be forced to live in this large NYC apartment on a writer’s salary? Meanwhile, Samantha was cross town, tending to her own “nakedness”.
best.comment.ever.
If this is some sort of viral marketing campaign, I’m still not seeing your dogshit movie.
wow! that vid looked like my weekend.
yeah, sounds like AC and that’s not a bad thing
I love it when awesome bands explore different styles… this will definitely generate some pussy-whining (clearly….) Get a fucking tamp, losers…. Sigur Ros is awesome, the album is gonna be awesome, and you will still be lame.
ART!
great song and video. not sure how i feel about a sigur ros song sung in english. kinda nervous. never seen lyrics translated into english, but what if they’re are actually horribly lame? my god that would be terrible. i like not knowing what they’re saying.
You can’t translate the lyrics. Jonsi doesn’t sing in any real language, just some gibberish he calls Hopelandic.
not true. with the exception of ( ), most sigur ros songs are just sung in regular icelandic. not that most of us could tell the difference anyway
Well, some lyrics are translated at alwaysontherun.net and the lyrics are quite cool :) In the Gobbledigook he sings “vindur í hárinu” which means “wind in our hair”. Cheers
hmmmmm i like falling in love
Maybe they never went all tribal … maybe thats just the analysis. Just because the media and the blogosphere say its so doesn’t make it so.
Sigur Ros have always answered to themselves and hopefully always will. In the meantime, they’ve created a pretty interesting piece of art on par with everything they’ve ever done, like, ever.
i like it because they’re doing something different for themselves. it would have been a bit lamer to get another Sigur Ros-by-the-numbers album.
is tribal drumming “in” now?
who cares. they’re changing as a band and doing what they want to do. if it’s good, who cares!?!?!
Love it. Isn’t it beautiful when the song and the video are seemlesss?
True art in more then one form.
Beautifull.
LOL
awesomeness
love you carry
xoxo
gossip girl
am i the only one who hear spanish flamenco tinges as opposed to tribal rhythms?
thanksbye
Those naked hippies are DEFINITELY on the dope.
those naked hippies are annoying.
ass hole
anjing
kiss my ass
All Alright – Sigur Ros – http://www.vimeo.com/3330839