The Icelandic band Sigur Rós made a surprise album release on June 16. It’s called ÁTTA, which means “eight” in Icelandic.
The Icelandic band Sigur Rós made a surprise album release on June 16. It’s called ÁTTA, which means “eight” in Icelandic. It’s their eighth studio album, and it features eight tracks heavy with strings. KEXP’s Roddy Nikpour immersed himself in the album and brings us this review.
It’s been 10 years since Sigur Rós’s last studio album. What sets this record apart from their others is that you can hardly call it “rock.”
Many of their previous albums feature more traditional rock elements: drum beats, bass grooves, and a mix of ups and downs. For example, on one end of the spectrum, anyone who’s seen Sigur Rós live knows that the band ends their live shows with the raucous “Untitled 8” off the album ( ) from 2002.
On the other end of the spectrum, Sigur Rós has produced plenty of more ambient soundscapes, too. You can hear orchestral accompaniments throughout their discography, dating back to early albums like Ágætis byrjun in 1999, the iconic album Takk from 2005, Valtari from 2012 — the list goes on.
ÁTTA is more like that. This time, though, the strings tell a different kind of story.
ÁTTA begins with dazzling ambience and vocal samples, all swelling together full of emotion in the opening track “Glóð.” (This is actually when I cried the most listening to this album.)
The dust settles, and arguably, the dust isn’t ever really stirred up again except for a brief moment during “Klettur.” To me, this song screams Viking saga. It features a mighty pulsing kick drum carrying weight throughout the whole song.
Other than that, there’s a noticeable absence of drums, which is both a creative decision, but also circumstantial. In 2018, their drummer stepped down due to allegations of sexual assault.
The remaining tracks lean heavily into the more subtle, gut-wrenching dynamics of the London Contemporary Orchestra, who recorded with the band at Abbey Road. Alongside them is Jónsi’s signature falsetto. Time and time again, Jónsi’s soaring vocals invoke a sense of longing that feels like home. That’s the secret element that reminds the listener, “This isn’t just any composition — it’s new music from the one and only Sigur Rós.”
Instead of lifting you up, ÁTTA brings you right down to a scorched earth and forces you to look inward. Nothing spells that out better than the album cover, which features a rainbow banner in a meadow being swallowed by violent flames, burning into thick black smoke.
There’s an obvious Pride aspect here: The frontman himself is openly gay, so there’s a commentary on the backward momentum of gay rights in the U-S. As Jónsi told NPR’s Bob Boilen, this album is also about the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, the pandemic, and pretty much everything that has made life feel heavy over the last several years. You can hear these themes in the music, as well as the lyrics, whether it’s a song in Icelandic or in the made-up language of Hopelandic. But amid all this despair, ÁTTA finds pockets of peace and hope.
ÁTTA is a triumphant soundscape — because in the face of despair, all we have is hope. ÁTTA offers a space to reflect on self-destruction and reminds us that it’s not inevitable.
Outside of Sigur Rós, Jónsi continues to use art to raise awareness of not just the destruction of our planet, but also its passive beauty that we take for granted. He curated an exhibit at the Nordic Museum in Seattle called FLÓÐ, which explores this crisis through sound and smell. (He spoke with Kevin Cole about the exhibit a few weeks back for KEXP’s Sound & Vision.)
Jónsi says the creative flow was easy since he co-wrote it with the band’s original bassist and keyboardist. After all, Sigur Rós has been playing together for the last 28 years.
Still, 28 years is a long time. Jónsi seems to leave it up in the air as to whether or not the band will keep up the momentum or hang it up soon.
Even with that ominous backdrop, Sigur Rós is on tour now. They’re in Europe this summer, and then they’ll be here in the U.S. in August, including a stop at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre on August 24 performing alongside the Wordless Orchestra. Then, not long after, ÁTTA will be available on physical formats September 1.
