Volcano + ethereal music = "ooooh"

I spent a mildly tense day on Monday waiting to see if my flight from Belfast to London would be grounded because of the volcanic ash cloud. It wasn't, making this the worst anecdote in the history of the written word. But here's a stunning video of Eyjafjallajökull, set to the music of Jonsi, formerly of Sigur Ros. Flick on the HD button, maximise the video and go "waow-wee" for a minute or two.

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010


Jonsi is, of course, from Iceland, home of the volcano. In essence, that makes the track above (Kolniður, from his album Go) the Icelandic equivalent of Waterloo Sunset or Parklife.

Suddenly, I feel like emigrating.

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A man dressed as a parrot

Here's Jonsi, lead singer of Sigur Ros, with the video for his debut solo single, Go Do. Like the "teaser track" he put out two weeks ago, it gets good around the 2'00" mark. Expect twittering flutes, elegaic strings and a man with luxuriant plumage.

Jonsi - Go Do

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Sigur goes solo

The frontman of Icelandic quartet Sigur Ros is called Jónsi Birgisson. That's him warbling away in a completely made-up nonsense language on tracks like Starálfur and Hoppípolla. With his delicate, lispy falsetto, he sounds like a children's TV presenter during the rapture.

With Sigur Ros taking a break in 2010, Jónsi has recorded a solo album. To my ears, it sounds almost exactly the same as the material he records with his bandmates - orchestral, celestial, spiritual, elegiac, exhilirating, uplifting and warm. In essence: distinctly non-rubbish.

The main difference between Sigur and Jónsi is that he's supposed to be singing in English. In principle, this means that every so often you catch a snippet of a syllable that you think you might recognise. He might be saying something horribly racist, or claiming to have shagged your dad, or be advocating something really offensive - like imagining Mika naked, or imagining Mika clothed, or imagining two Mikas (*shudders involuntarily*). But we will never know.

No matter what he's saying, the music is wonderful and joyous. The first taster is a song called Boy Lilikoi, which saunters along prettily for three minutes before bursting into a great big sonic hug of strings and harmonies and rolling drums. You can listen to it below, but beware - it'll make you want to do back-flips around the living room.



Right-click here to download the track [link fixed 25.01.10]

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