Sigur Rós have today released a new album ÁTTA, their first studio record in 10 years. Recorded across multiple continents – in the band’s Sundlaugin studio in Iceland, the legendary Abbey Road in the UK and a number of studios in the US. Multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson is back in the fold – having left the band in 2012 – to join frontman Jónsi and bassist Georg Holm.
With just the three friends in a room, letting the mood speak to them, they found themselves.
Jónsi says:
…just wanting to have minimal drums and for the music to be really sparse, floaty and beautiful. We’re getting older and more cynical so I just wanted to move us so that we felt something!
Sveinsson agrees:
We wanted to allow ourselves to be a bit dramatic and go far with these arrangements. The world needs that right now. It’s hard to describe, but for me everything is always open to interpretation. People can think and feel how they want.”
ÁTTA leans heavily towards the orchestral, and touches on everything that has made Sigur Rós one of the most ambitious and acclaimed bands of recent times, with close to 10 million albums sold, whilst sign posting an exciting and expansive possibility for their future. ÁTTA prominently features the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Robert Ames, alongside brass performed by longtime Icelandic collaborators Brassgat í bala. It is mixed and co-produced by another frequent collaborator Paul Corley, alongside the band.
In a post-pandemic world torn apart by war, economic turmoil, culture wars, and brutally divisive discourse, ÁTTA feels like a balming and unifying bond. Hólm says:
It’s what the music asked for and spoke for itself.
This record sounds like a Sigur Rós album, but it’s more introverted than before. It’s very expansive with this sound of strings, but it looks within more than outside.
ÁTTA is out now and available to download and stream here and through the link below. Physical editions will be available in September. A full review will follow.
