Ok, if I'm being completely honest it's not all that surprising really. Sigur Ros' output throughout their decade+ career has been at least 'good', and mostly 'mind-alteringly wonderful', so that Jon Por Birgisson has crafted an engaging and very listenable record away from his bandmates isn't really groundbreaking news. I suppose my surprise comes more in the direction he's taken with the record, especially following 'Riceboy Sleeps', last year's drone/ambience heavy collaboration with partner Alex Somers. 'Go' is the kind of record a parallel-universe Postal Service might have made had they been brought up on an Icelandic farm-for every bowed guitar and reverb-soaked string swell there is a counterbalancing vocal glitch or skittering broken drumbeat. And rather than just being a showcase for Jonsi to prove he can do something other than 'haunting and etherial', the actual songs within 'Go' are of a very high standard indeed, leaving me with a much better taste in my mouth(ears?) than the last Sigur Ros album proper (not to discredit that record of course, wonderful as it is). I also understand that he is taking his show on the road, a prospect I was initially pretty sceptical about-what is he going to do to fill a headline show? It'd be something close to sacrelige to play Sigur Ros songs with other musicians, and the 'Riceboy Sleeps' material hardly seems fitting for a live setting. Plus, the tickets for the two London dates are going for the not-so-lovely price of £26 a pop, all factors leading me to believe that Jonsi is simply an incredibly self-important egotist that feels he can charge a fortune to longtime fans to see him play songs they don't know for 45 mins then bugger off. Then, I managed to catch a video on his website previewing what can be expected from the live show, and bloody hell, it looks like Jonsi is bringing something very special to the table. With the involvement of a British multimedia/art company, it looks like it's going to be an incredibly lavish theatre/gig hybrid involving big mechanical sets, lots of purpose-made animations and, if the video for first single 'Go Do' is an indicator, lots of flipping weird costumes. So, I now very much want to go and pay £26 pounds, thankyou very much. Maybe I shall see you there.
I'm there if you are kiddo :)
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