31 March 2010 (Music Interview)

Words: John Balfe | Jónsi Birgisson, frontman of enigmatic Icelandic band Sigur Ros, is set to release his debut solo album at the beginning of April. 'Go' is a gloriously upbeat, textured album compared the more mystic and dreamlike sound that he and his Icelandic cohorts have been producing for the past 16 years. It had seemed that 2010 was shaping up to be something of a sparse year for fans of Sigur Ros, with the majority of the band taking extended periods of time off to raise their families, but this has left Jonsi with some spare time on his hands. Time, it turns out, he has spent very wisely indeed. I spoke to Jónsi over a grainy line from his home in Reykjavik and talked to him about the recording of this album and just what part of his creative spirit it came from. 

 

How different do you personally think this record is when compared to the work you've done with Sigur Rós?

I think the main difference is that I worked with different people. I worked with different players, a different arranger, drummer and producer. It's very different but in some ways it's the same because it's me and I can't change my voice.

How do you approach writing songs for a solo album as opposed to writing songs with the band? Is it a different process, is it less collaborative?

It's just more open when I do it myself because it's only acoustic guitar and voice [when I write it]. It's more open for interpretations with the bass and drums and beat and arrangements. I usually write the basic song but usually when I write with Sigur Rós they kind of do all that.

How old are these songs? When were they written?

They are different. They are old and young. One of the tracks from the album is ten years old and I think the newest song is really young, I just wrote it right before I went into the studio.

If some of these songs have been written for such a long time, is there any particular reason why you didn't work on them with Sigur Rós, or were you holding them back for a solo album? Were you planning on doing this solo album for a long time?

Yeah, it was in my head for a long time. It would be fun to do something for myself but I never did anything about it until now because I think this is maybe the time I have to do something for myself because all the guys in the band are having babies. How Sigur Rós works is we write everything together. Nobody brings a song to the band and then we work on it together. Usually we just write everything together on the spot so because of that I have a lot of songs that I just wrote myself at home.

When you listened to the album for the first time, after it was mastered, how did the finished product compare to the initial idea that was in your head when you first sat down and wrote these songs? Did the album take some sort of life of its own during the recording process?

I think when I heard the master it was just a totally different album than I thought it would be. The first impression I had thinking about this was just doing an intimate acoustic solo album recorded in my living room. It was going to be quite low-key but it just turned out to be much bigger, with much more layers. I think if I had known that in the beginning I probably would have chosen different songs in some way. I have a lot of different songs. When I started at home I had 30 songs to choose from my acoustic folder. I have a lot others, too. I write a lot of electronic songs and ambient songs, stuff like that.

I want to ask you about Nico Muhly. How big was his influence? Was he involved in the arranging, or songwriting?

He was involved in the arrangements of strings and brass. He played also a lot of piano on the album and some glockenspiel. He was super fun to work with, really creative and spontaneous and hard-working. I liked how he was. When you approach the classical work which he's famous for, you imagine it being very heavy and serious but Nico is so open-minded and just ready for anything. It was really cool and a nice approach.

Sigur Rós have been together now for about 16 years and during that time you've crafted a very deliberate and unique sound. But when you remove the other three guys from the equation on this album, how did that impact the songwriting and recording? Did it feel the same or was it a little bit strange and new to you?

Yeah it was definitely new for me and also strange, but in a good and bad way. You're left with more responsibility and more decisions to make. It's scary and stressful but also exciting, fun and liberating.

Who else was working with you on this album?

Alex Somers, my boyfriend, he produced the album with me. He was with me from the start choosing the songs and helped me arrange them and structure them. He was the only one who was with me from the start to the end. It's really good to have one person who is like that with good advice at hand, who also played a lot of instruments. Then there's Samuli Kosminen, a Finnish drummer, he played a big role on the album too. He brought a lot of the energy and the power and also a sense of playfulness to the album.

It's a very layered sound, very textured and there's a lot going on in it. This might seem like a strange question but the Jónsi that recorded 'Go', is that the same Jónsi that records with Sigur Rós or did you have to access another side of your creative spirit to come at this album from a different angle?

It's definitely a little bit different. I think the vocal stuff is different to Sigur Rós. When I record with Sigur Rós there's a lot of backing vocals, I think that's the main [difference]. It's so spontaneous because I record the main vocal but usually haven't thought of any backing vocals so you have to do them on the spot. That's creative for me. You sing one vocal and then you have to harmonise with the other one. It's super fun for me to do. Maybe the most different thing is that there's no drums there, so you have to think about the arrangement more so you kind of have to keep your fingers in that more than you do in Sigur Rós.

I think that 'Go', and most of your previous work as well, the albums seem to have a character to themselves. The songs exist singularly, but the albums are not just a collection of songs thrown together, when you listen to them all together, in the context of the album, it can reveal a whole new tone or theme that might not be present in all of the songs. But when you look at it from a distance they bleed into each other and mingle together to create a whole new sound.

I think that when you do songs that are written in different time periods and I think when you come to the studio to record them, they kind of get the same vibe and you put the same arrangements on them. When they're recorded at the same time, with the same drummer and players it kind of gets the same atmosphere. They are written in different time periods though.

So it happens by a natural, organic process as opposed to something that's pre-conceived and manufactured. Is it best to just let these things happen by itself and when it's all said and done look at it and say 'oh, so this is how it all turned out'?

Yeah, definitely. Also because we started many more songs than are on the album so when you choose a song for the album you have to bear in mind that they all have to fit together in some way.

Lyrically and vocally the album is mostly sung in English and that's something that's not too common in your work. Did that present a challenge too, either with the vocals themselves or that actual writing of the lyrics?

I found it really difficult actually. My boyfriend is American and we speak English all the time here so it was kind of like a healthy challenge for me. It was very difficult but also a lot of fun and healthy because I need these challenges.

Is it difficult to be creative and write interesting lyrics in a language that you're not so comfortable with?

I think it turned out alright. My vocabulary is not really good in English compared to Icelandic and I was also a little bit shy about the accent but I do think it all turned out okay.

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Jónsi's 'Go' is released on April 2nd. For our review please click here.

 

 

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