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Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi has announced a new album ‘First Light’, alongside two new singles ‘Flicker’ and ‘Cherry Blossom’. Check them out below.
Revealed today (July 19), ‘First Light’ will be Jónsi’s fourth studio album, following the Icelandic musician’s ‘Obsidian‘, which came in October 2021. It’s set for release August 30 via health and wellbeing music provider Myndstream in collaboration with Lakeshore Records and is available for pre-order here.
To celebrate the announcement, Jónsi has shared two lead singles, ‘Flicker’ and ‘Cherry Blossom’. Both impressionistic orchestral tracks, ‘Flicker’ is ambient and atmospheric, gradually building a chorus of flutes and birdsong, before collapsing into a harmonious string finale. While ‘Cherry Blossom’ is more meditative, built around a peaceful piano solo.
Jónsi originally began writing the album as a video game soundtrack, but it eventually evolved into a larger project that seeks to explore peace, hope and connection through music.
“Writing this music at a time of manmade global turmoil and unrest for a video game,” Jónsi said, “I imagined ‘First Light’ as a momentary fantastical, over-the-top, utopian world where everyone and everything lives together in everlasting peace and harmony. Choosing beauty over disorder, hope over fear, our universal divine angel guardians watching over us and connecting us all as one through love, melody, and music.”
Fans can expect the release of two new singles titled ‘Forest Trill’ (which will feature more birdsong) and ‘Undercurrent’, shortly.
Check out the full album tracklist and artwork for ‘First Light’ below.
The ‘First Light’ tracklist is:
1. Flicker
2. First Light
3. Green Meadow
4. Clearing
5. Cherry Blossom
6. In Plain View
7. Wishful Thinking
8. Forest Trill
9. Undercurrent
10. Willow
11. Stillness
12. Floweret
13. Over the Fence
14. Flutterby
There seem to be no featured artists so far, unlike Jónsi’s 2020 album ‘Shiver‘, which saw him collaborate with Robyn, Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser and producer A.G. Cook. In a three-star review, NME said that the record had “enough of a futuristic sheen and optimistic vibe to keep it feeling fresh and make you wanna dive back in for more.”
Later this year, Sigur Rós will embark on an orchestral US tour in support of their recent album ‘ÁTTA’, which was released last year and marked their first full-length for a decade. The tour begins in Detroit on September 19, and will stop off in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Miami before wrapping up in Austin, Texas on October 4. You can find tickets here.
In October, the band followed ‘ÁTTA’ up with a special version of the record titled ‘ÁTTA Heimr Edition’.
In a four-star review, NME wrote that ‘ÁTTA’ is “a record that gives Sigur Rós plenty more reason to exist in adding some pure and natural soul to this cold and unfeeling world.”
Sigur Rós’ 2024 US tour dates are:
SEPTEMBER
19 — Detroit, MI, Masonic Cathedral Theatre
21 — Chicago, IL, Auditorium Theatre
23 — Philadelphia, PA, The Met
25 — Washington DC, Anthem
28 — Durham, NC, DPAC
30 — Miami, FL, Adrienne Arsht Center
OCTOBER
2 — Nashville, TN, Ryman Auditorium
4 — Austin, TX, Bass Concert Hall