Sigur Rós
Encyclopedia
Sigur Rós (ˈsɪːɣʏr ˈroːus) is an Icelandic post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...

 band with classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...


and minimalist
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....

 elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound
Ethereal Wave
Ethereal Wave, also called ethereal darkwave in Europe and ethereal goth or simply ethereal in the US, is a term that describes a subgenre of Dark Wave music...

, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's
Jón Þór Birgisson
Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson is the guitarist and vocalist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is known for his use of a cello bow on guitar and his falsetto voice. He is also blind in his right eye and is openly gay. His boyfriend Alex Somers has done much of the graphic design for...

 falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...

 vocals and use of bowed guitar
Bowed guitar
Bowed guitar is a method of playing a guitar, acoustic or electric, in which the guitarist uses a bow to play the instrument, similar to playing a cello or a viola da gamba. Unlike other bowed instruments, the guitar has a flat bridge, making it difficult to bow individual notes on the middle strings...

. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced that the band will tour in 2012 and that they are also working on a new album. The name "Sigur Rós" is Icelandic for "Victory Rose". The band was named after Jónsi's newborn sister, Sigurrós Elín.

Von (1997) and Von brigði (1998)

Jón Þór (Jónsi) Birgisson
Jón Þór Birgisson
Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson is the guitarist and vocalist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is known for his use of a cello bow on guitar and his falsetto voice. He is also blind in his right eye and is openly gay. His boyfriend Alex Somers has done much of the graphic design for...

 (guitar and vocals), Georg Hólm
Georg Hólm
Georg "Goggi" Hólm is the bassist of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. Holm is the most prominent member of Sigur Rós in the English press, as he does significantly more press than the other members due to his being the most fluent English-speaker in the band; part of Georg's fluency in...

 (bass) and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson
Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson
Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson is a founding member of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He was the band's drummer from their creation in August 1994 until he quit in 1999 after the band finished Ágætis byrjun. Orri Páll Dýrason took his place as drummer. The group became internationally popular with...

 (drums) formed the group in Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...

 in August 1994. Their name is Icelandic wordplay: while the individual words Sigur and Rós mean, respectively, Victory and Rose, "Victory Rose" wouldn't be grammatically correct; the name is actually borrowed from Jónsi's younger sister Sigurrós
Sigurrós
Sigurrós is an Icelandic female name, formed by conjoining sigur and rós . Over 200 women currently carry it as their first given name and around 100 as their second or third given name....

, who was born the same day as the band was formed, and then split into two words. They soon won a record deal with the local Sugarcubes-owned record label, Bad Taste
Bad Taste (record label)
Bad Taste is one of Iceland’s most important record labels; located in Reykjavík and known worldwide for being home to The Sugarcubes, it also publishes poetry books, short films, greeting cards and Icelandic gifts...

. In 1997, they released Von
Von (album)
Von is the debut album of Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós.The production of the album took a long time, and the end result sounded significantly different from the original recordings. The band considered scrapping the final result and starting all over again, but decided not to because it...

 and in 1998 a remix collection named Von brigði
Von brigði
Von brigði is a remix album of Icelandic band Sigur Rós' first album, Von. It was released in 1998 on Smekkleysa Records, and continues to be available only in Iceland or through the band's online store. An LP, containing four tracks from the album, was also released, though only 100 copies of this...

 (vɔːn ˈprɪɣðɪ). This name is also Icelandic wordplay: Vonbrigði means "disappointment", but Von brigði means "variations on Von". The band was joined by Kjartan Sveinsson
Kjartan Sveinsson
Kjartan "Kjarri" Sveinsson is a keyboardist of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He joined the band in 1998. Being something of a multi-instrumentalist, he has also played such instruments as the flute, tin whistle, oboe and even the banjo, as well as many of the unorthodox instruments that...

 on keyboards in 1998. He is the only member of Sigur Rós with musical training, and has contributed most of the orchestral and string arrangements for their later work.

Ágætis byrjun (1999)

International acclaim came with 1999's Ágætis byrjun
Ágætis byrjun
Ágætis byrjun is the second album by the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, which was released in 1999. Ágætis byrjun was recorded between the summer of 1998 to the spring of 1999 with producer Ken Thomas, and became Sigur Rós's breakthrough album, both critically and commercially...

 (au̯ɣai̯tʰɪs pɪrjʏn "An all right start"). The album's reputation spread by word of mouth over the following two years. Soon critics worldwide hailed it as one of the great albums of its time, and the band was playing support to established acts such as Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

. Three songs, Ágætis byrjun, "Svefn-g-englar
Svefn-g-englar
"Svefn-g-englar" is a song by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, from their second album, Ágætis byrjun.-Overview:"Svefn-g-englar" was released as a single in 1999, featuring two studio recordings — "Svefn-g-englar" and "Viðrar vel til loftárása" , both from Ágætis byrjun — and two...

", and a live take of the then-unreleased "Njósnavélin" (later 'un-named' "Untitled #4") appeared in the Cameron Crowe
Cameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe is an American screenwriter and film director. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, for which he still frequently writes....

 film Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed, co-produced and co-written by Cameron Crowe. The film is an English-language remake of the 1997 Spanish movie Abre los ojos , the screenplay for which was written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil...

. The two songs also subsequently appeared in the US version of the television series Queer as Folk. Their music has also appeared in the TV series 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...

 with Ný batterí, CSI
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...

 with "Svefn-g-englar" and CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....

 with "Untitled 3" (a.k.a. Samskeyti). In 2004, Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....

 used "Starálfur" in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is an American comedy-drama film directed, written, and co-produced by Wes Anderson. It is Anderson's fourth feature length film, released in the U.S. on December 25, 2004...

 as did the Emmy winning 2005 TV film The Girl in the Café
The Girl in the Café
The Girl in the Café is a British made-for-television drama film directed by David Yates, written by Richard Curtis and produced by Hilary Bevan Jones. The film is produced by the independent production company Tightrope Pictures and was originally screened on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 25...

 and "Untitled 3" (a.k.a. Samskeyti) can be heard in the final scene from the Gregg Araki film Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin
Mysterious Skin is a 2004 drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Scott Heim...

. It can also be heard in Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...

. In Enki Bilal
Enki Bilal
Enes Bilal is a French comic book creator, comics artist and film director.-Biography:Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to a Slovak mother and a Bosnian father who had been Josip Broz Tito's tailor, he moved to Paris at the age of 9. At age 14, he met René Goscinny and with his encouragement applied...

's Immortel (Ad Vitam) the song "Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm)" is used. The song "Svefn-g-englar" was also used on "V (2009 TV series)
V (2009 TV series)
V is an American science fiction television series that ran for two seasons on ABC, from November 3, 2009 to March 15, 2011. A remake of the 1983 miniseries created by Kenneth Johnson, the new series chronicles the arrival on Earth of a technologically advanced alien species which ostensibly comes...

" on November 24, 2009.

After the release of Ágætis byrjun, the band became well known for Jónsi's signature style of playing guitar with the bow
Bow (music)
In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....

 from a cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

, accentuated with reverb.

Rímur (2001)

In 2001, Sigur Rós christened their newly completed studio by recording an EP with an Icelandic fisherman named Steindór Andersen
Steindór Andersen
Steindór Andersen is an Icelandic musician.Andersen is noted for his Rímur chanting, and is most widely known for his collaborations with the band Sigur Rós...

. The EP contains six songs, all of which feature Steindór Andersen reciting traditional Icelandic poetry called rímur
Rímur
In Icelandic literature, a ríma is an epic poem written in any of the so-called rímnahættir . They are rhymed, they alliterate and consist of two to four lines per stanza...

. Sigur Rós accompany him on three songs. Two songs feature Steindór alone. The last song on the EP, "Lækurinn", is a duet with Sigurður Sigurðarson. A thousand copies of the EP were printed and sold during the spring tour of 2001. The EP was sold in a blank-white-paper case.

(2002)

Drummer Ágúst left the band after the recording of Ágætis byrjun and was replaced by Orri Páll Dýrason
Orri Páll Dýrason
Orri Páll Dýrason is the drummer for Sigur Rós. He joined the band in 1999, shortly after the recording of the studio album Ágætis byrjun, when the previous drummer, Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson, left the band. He married Lukka Sigurðardóttir in Hawaii in 2005. They have a son together born in January...

. In 2002, their highly anticipated follow-up album
is the third full-length album from Icelandic band Sigur Rós, first released in October 2002. It comprises eight untitled tracks, divided into two parts: the first four tracks are lighter and more optimistic, while the latter four are bleaker and more melancholic. The two halves are divided by a...

 was released. Upon release all tracks on the album were untitled, though the band later published song names on their website. All of the lyrics on are sung in Vonlenska, also known as Hopelandic, a constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...

 of nonsense syllables (technically glossolalia) which resembles the phonology of the Icelandic language. It has also been said that the listener is supposed to interpret their own meanings of the lyrics which can then be written in the blank pages in the album booklet.

In 2002, the band also wrote an original score for the Bodyscript dance production by Wayne McGregor Random Dance in collaboration with Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...

 and the Arts Council England
Arts Council England
Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...

. Visual effects and animations were produced by Mark Hatchard
Mark Hatchard
Mark Hatchard is a director of the Hotbox Studios animation and design company and is involved with the contemporary arts and music festival group, Festival Republic, through Hotbox Studios' sister company Hotbox Events...

 of Hotbox Studios and Hotbox Events
Hotbox Events
Hotbox Events is a company that recruits and manages staff and volunteers for UK festivals such as the Leeds Festival, Reading Festival, Latitude Festival and The Big Chill...

.

Sigur Rós collaborated with Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

 in October 2003 to compose music for Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...

's dance piece Split Sides; Sigur Rós’s three tracks were named Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do
Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do
Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do is an EP by Sigur Rós, released in 2004 by Geffen Records. The EP consists of the songs the group composed for Merce Cunningham's dance piece Split Sides, which also involved Radiohead....

 and released in March 2004 while Radiohead's contribution was never released. Sigur Rós' 1997 debut album Von
Von (album)
Von is the debut album of Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós.The production of the album took a long time, and the end result sounded significantly different from the original recordings. The band considered scrapping the final result and starting all over again, but decided not to because it...

 found a US and UK release in October 2004.

"Untitled 3" from the album is used on the video "6AM" by film maker Carmen Vidal, winner of the 2006 Student Academy Award.
"Untitled 3" is also used at the end credits of the indie Drama movie, "Mysterious Skin."
"Untitled 4" from the album featured in the final scene of Vanilla Sky.

Takk... (2005)

Their fourth album, Takk...
Takk...
Takk... is the fourth full-length studio album by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós. The first singles, "Glósóli" and "Sæglópur", were released on August 15, 2005 and August 16, 2005 respectively, the former worldwide and the latter only in the United States. The single "Hoppípolla" was released in the...

 ([ˈtʰaʰk]; "Thanks...") employs the distinctive sound of their second album in a more rock oriented structure with greater use of the guitar, and was released in September 2005. "Hoppípolla
Hoppípolla
"Hoppípolla" is a song by Icelandic band Sigur Rós from their 2005 album Takk.... It was released as the album's second single on 28 November 2005. The lyrics are mainly in Icelandic, with some nonsensical phrases, a "language" the band calls Vonlenska . Written with spaces, the song's title would...

" ([ˈhɔʰpiˌpʰɔtl̥a] "Puddle jumping"), the second official single from Takk..., was released in November alongside a new studio remake of "Hafsól" ([ˈhafsoʊ̯l] "Ocean Sun"), a song that was previously released on the band's 1997 debut, Von. "Hoppípolla" was used in the trailers for the BBC's natural history series Planet Earth
Planet Earth (TV series)
Planet Earth is a 2006 television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Five years in the making, it was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC, and also the first to be filmed in high definition...

 in 2006, as well as the closing credits for the 2006 FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 final and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

's coverage of the 2006 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race
The Boat Race
The event generally known as "The Boat Race" is a rowing race in England between the Oxford University Boat Club and the Cambridge University Boat Club, rowed between competing eights each spring on the River Thames in London. It takes place generally on the last Saturday of March or the first...

, advertisements for the BBC's coverage of England games during the 2006 FIFA World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

, on television advertisements for RTÉ's Gaelic games
Gaelic games
Gaelic games are sports played in Ireland under the auspices of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The two main games are Gaelic football and hurling...

 coverage in Ireland and on an advertisement for Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...

. It was also used in the final scene of the movie Penelope, for the trailer of the film Children of Men
Children of Men
Children of Men is a 2006 science fiction film loosely adapted from P. D. James's 1992 novel The Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. In 2027, two decades of human infertility have left society on the brink of collapse. Illegal immigrants seek sanctuary in England, where the last...

 and for the trailer of the film Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...

. Following this, demand for the single grew. It was made more widely available by EMI in consequence. This song is also used in the trailer for the Disney movie Earth
Earth (2007 film)
Earth is a 2007 nature documentary film which depicts the diversity of wild habitats and creatures across the planet. The film begins in the Arctic in January of one year and moves south, finishing in Antarctica in the December of the same year...

.

An extended Sæglópur
Sæglópur
"Sæglópur" is a song by Sigur Rós, released in 2006 as a single from the 2005 album Takk.... Parts of the song are in Icelandic, although a lengthy portion is in Hopelandic, a "language" of nonsense words selected by the band that sound similar to Icelandic.- Music video :The music video for the...

 EP ([ˈsaɪ̯ˌkloʊ̯pʏr]) was released in July 2006 in most parts of the world and in August in the United States. Its original release was scheduled in May, but because of the sudden demand of "Hoppípolla" it was pushed back from that date. Sigur Rós recorded three new songs to appear on the EP ("Refur", "Ó friður", and "Kafari"). In July 2006, Sigur Rós finished a major world tour with stops in Europe, the United States (where they played a headline show at the Hollywood Bowl), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Japan. Upon return to their homeland, Sigur Rós provided a series of free surprise outdoor concerts throughout Iceland in July and August, playing in various venues such as abandoned bunkers and community coffee shops, all of which were included in the 2007 documentary film Heima
Heima
Heima is a documentary film and double DVD set about the tour around Iceland in the summer of 2006 of the band Sigur Rós...

. They also performed twice in the United States in February.

Heima and Hvarf/Heim (2007)

In August 2007, a limited DVD+CD edition of the 2002 soundtrack to the documentary Hlemmur
Hlemmur (film)
Hlemmur is a 2002 Icelandic documentary directed by Ólafur Sveinsson from 2002. It is named after Reykjavík's main bus terminal and revolves around the lives of some unfortunate destitute men who spend most of their time there....

 was released. Hvarf/Heim (ˈkʰvarf], [ˈhɛɪ̯m) was released on 5 November (6 November in the U.S.), a double
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....

 compilation album containing studio versions of previously unreleased songs — "Salka" ˈsalka, "Hljómalind" ˈɬʲoʊ̯maˌlɪnt (formerly known as "Rokklagið"), "Í Gær" [i ˈcaɪ̯r] and "Von" —, on Hvarf, and acoustic studio versions of the songs: "Samskeyti" ([ˈsamˌscɛɪ̯tɪ]), "Starálfur" [ˈstarˌaʊ̯lvʏr], "Vaka" [ˈvaːka], "Ágætis Byrjun", "Heysátan" [ˈhɛɪ̯saʊ̯tan] and "Von", on Heim. On the same day (20 November in the U.S.) Heima
Heima
Heima is a documentary film and double DVD set about the tour around Iceland in the summer of 2006 of the band Sigur Rós...

, a live DVD of the previous summer’s Iceland tour, was released. Just prior to the release of Hvarf/Heim, on 29 October, a single named Hljómalind
Hljómalind
"Hljómalind" is a song by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós from their 2007 album Hvarf/Heim. It was released on heavyweight 7" vinyl as the album's first single on October 29, 2007. The B-side of the single features a live acoustic version of the song "Starálfur"...

 was released.

To promote their film Heima, the band scheduled a series of premiere screenings throughout the world, featuring a short acoustic set before the film and a question-and-answer session afterwards.

Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (2008)

The band's fifth regular studio album (mɛð sʏð i ˈeiːrʏm vɪð ˈspɪːlʏm ˈɛndaløysd, "With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly"), recorded with producer Flood in downtown Reykjavík, was released in June 2008 to generally positive reviews. Stylistically different from their earlier releases, it featured fewer strings and more guitar, and had more pop-oriented songs, making it "the group's most accessible effort" while maintaining the "majestic beauty that defines the band's music." The final track "All Alright" is the band's first to be sung in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, though all the other lyrics are in Icelandic.

The band were announced as a headlining act for the 2008 Splendour in the Grass
Splendour in the Grass
Splendour in the Grass is an annual Australian music festival held in July at Woodford, Queensland, and previously held at Belongil Fields, outside Byron Bay...

 Festival in Byron Bay, Australia, Latitude Festival
Latitude Festival
The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006....

 2008 and the 2008 La Route du Rock
La Route du Rock
La Route du Rock is a biannual music festival that occurs in the city of Saint-Malo.Traditionnally the festival was held every year but since 2006, a winter edition is held called collection d 'hiver after the french fashion word. The 20th occurrence of La Route du Rock transpired on the dates of...

 Festival in St Malo, France. In addition, the band performed a late-night set at the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee
Manchester, Tennessee
Manchester is a city in Coffee County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,102 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Coffee County...

, where they blew a speaker at the end of their second song. Jónsi Birgisson commented, "The piano is exploding, I think," one of the few things spoken in English.

The band released the first song from the album entitled "Gobbledigook" for free on their website, along with a music video.

On June 8, the whole album was made available for free streaming on their website and Last.fm
Last.fm
Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....

.

In the fall of 2008 Sigur Rós embarked on a world tour supporting their newly released album. The band played as a four piece without Amiina
Amiina
Amiina is an Icelandic band composed of Hildur Ársælsdóttir , Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir , Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir , and Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir . They frequently perform live and in the studio along with Sigur Rós...

 and the brass band, the first time the band had played as a four piece in seven years. The tour started on 17 September 2008 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, at the United Palace Theater
United Palace Theater
The United Palace Theater, originally known as Loew's 175th Street Theatre, is a church and live music venue located at 175th Street and Broadway in Washington Heights in New York City.-History:...

 in New York City, and finished with a concert in Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...

 at Laugardalshöll
Laugardalshöll
Laugardalshöll is an indoor sporting arena located in Reykjavík, Iceland. The capacity of the arena is 5,500 people.It hosts various sporting events, such as team handball....

 on 23 November 2008. The majority of the tour was European with the exception of concerts in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

The track "Festival" from the album can be heard in the end of the movie "127 Hours
127 Hours
127 Hours is a 2010 biographical adventure drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco as mountain climber Aron Ralston, who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost, Utah in April 2003....

".

New album rumors, hiatus, and Inni (2009–present)

On 28 May 2009 Sigur Rós announced that they had almost completed recording their latest album. The band said the album is taking form as a slower and more ambient record than both Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust and Takk.... The music is also described as melodic but much less noisy and more "out there" than previous albums. The unnamed album was expected to be released sometime in 2010. However, the band later revealed that the recordings had been scrapped. In a 2010 interview, Jónsi
Jón Þór Birgisson
Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson is the guitarist and vocalist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is known for his use of a cello bow on guitar and his falsetto voice. He is also blind in his right eye and is openly gay. His boyfriend Alex Somers has done much of the graphic design for...

 confirmed "We haven't got another album ready," he said. "It was just a rumour. We started to record something, but then we chucked it all away. So I think we are going to have to start it all again." Sigur Rós have yet to reveal when they will start work on the new album but the band are rumoured to be on indefinite hiatus as of January 2010.
However, before taking the stage in April at Coachella 2010, Jónsi commented that Sigur Rós will be getting back to work this year: "I'm gonna record some other stuff with Sigur Rós when I'm home", which will take place between a series of shows during his solo tour in summer 2010. On the first of February 2011 Jonsi's official website announced that he would be back in the studio with the band over the spring, but provided no further information.

On August 11, 2011 Sigur Rós' official website unveiled a trailer for a project called Inni
Inni
Inni has received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews"..Marc Hogan from Spin wrote: "After...

. This is a DVD and double CD of the band's live performances in London, and was directed by Vincent Morisset. It was screened at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

, and will see official release in November 2011. At the 2011 Festival
68th Venice International Film Festival
The 68th annual Venice Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, took place from 31 August to 10 September 2011. American film director Darren Aronofsky was announced as the Head of the Jury. American actor and film director Al Pacino was presented with the Glory to the Film-maker award on 4 September,...

 in September, members of Sigur Rós took questions from the audience. During this, Orri Páll Dýrason confirmed that they would be touring next year (2012) and also that a new album was in the making.

On September 16, the Inni album and live video became available to pre-order from the band's site in a variety of formats, additionally the band made the video for the song "Festival" available to watch online, as well as offering a free download of the audio for the song performance.

On 3 November 2011 following the UK premiere of "Inni" at the British Film Institute in London, the band members participated in a Q&A session during which Georg promised that 2012 would be a "very busy" year for Sigur Rós. The band hinted at a new album and tour in the second half of 2012. The Q&A session was curtailed when a stage light began to emit smoke and the room was evacuated. Their new album is expected to be released in Spring 2012.

Vonlenska

Vonlenska is a term used to describe the unintelligible lyrics sung by the band, in particular by Jón Þór Birgisson
Jón Þór Birgisson
Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson is the guitarist and vocalist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is known for his use of a cello bow on guitar and his falsetto voice. He is also blind in his right eye and is openly gay. His boyfriend Alex Somers has done much of the graphic design for...

. It is also commonly known by the English translation of its name, Hopelandic. It takes its name from "Von", a song on Sigur Rós’s debut album Von
Von (album)
Von is the debut album of Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós.The production of the album took a long time, and the end result sounded significantly different from the original recordings. The band considered scrapping the final result and starting all over again, but decided not to because it...

 where it was first used.

Vonlenska is a non-literal language, without fixed syntax, and differs from constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...

s that can be used for communication. It focuses entirely on the sounds of language; lacking grammar, meaning, and even distinct words. Instead, it consists of emotive non-lexical vocables and phonemes; in effect, Vonlenska uses the melodic and rhythmic elements of singing without the conceptual content of language. In this way, it is similar to the use of scat singing
Scat singing
In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.- Structure and syllable choice...

 in vocal jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

. The band’s website describes it as "a form of gibberish
Gibberish
Gibberish is a generic term in English for talking that sounds like speech, but carries no actual meaning. This meaning has also been extended to meaningless text or gobbledygook. The common theme in gibberish statements is a lack of literal sense, which can be described as a presence of nonsense...

 vocals that fits to the music"; it is similar in concept to the 'nonsense' language often used by the Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...

 singer Elizabeth Fraser
Elizabeth Fraser
Elizabeth Davidson Fraser is a Scottish singer best known as the vocalist for the pioneer alternative rock group Cocteau Twins...

 in the 1980s and 1990s. Most of the syllable strings sung by Jón Þór Birgisson are repeated many times throughout each song, and in the case of
is the third full-length album from Icelandic band Sigur Rós, first released in October 2002. It comprises eight untitled tracks, divided into two parts: the first four tracks are lighter and more optimistic, while the latter four are bleaker and more melancholic. The two halves are divided by a...

, throughout the whole album.

Songs featuring Vonlenska

  • From Von
    Von (album)
    Von is the debut album of Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós.The production of the album took a long time, and the end result sounded significantly different from the original recordings. The band considered scrapping the final result and starting all over again, but decided not to because it...

    :
    • "Von"
  • From Ágætis byrjun
    Ágætis byrjun
    Ágætis byrjun is the second album by the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, which was released in 1999. Ágætis byrjun was recorded between the summer of 1998 to the spring of 1999 with producer Ken Thomas, and became Sigur Rós's breakthrough album, both critically and commercially...

    :
    • "Olsen Olsen"
    • "Ágætis byrjun" (towards the end)
  • From
    is the third full-length album from Icelandic band Sigur Rós, first released in October 2002. It comprises eight untitled tracks, divided into two parts: the first four tracks are lighter and more optimistic, while the latter four are bleaker and more melancholic. The two halves are divided by a...

    :
    • All songs with vocals are sung exclusively in Vonlenska.
  • From Takk...
    Takk...
    Takk... is the fourth full-length studio album by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós. The first singles, "Glósóli" and "Sæglópur", were released on August 15, 2005 and August 16, 2005 respectively, the former worldwide and the latter only in the United States. The single "Hoppípolla" was released in the...

    :
    • "Hoppípolla
      Hoppípolla
      "Hoppípolla" is a song by Icelandic band Sigur Rós from their 2005 album Takk.... It was released as the album's second single on 28 November 2005. The lyrics are mainly in Icelandic, with some nonsensical phrases, a "language" the band calls Vonlenska . Written with spaces, the song's title would...

      " (following the Icelandic line "En ég stend alltaf upp [But I get always back up]")
    • "Sé lest"
    • "Sæglópur
      Sæglópur
      "Sæglópur" is a song by Sigur Rós, released in 2006 as a single from the 2005 album Takk.... Parts of the song are in Icelandic, although a lengthy portion is in Hopelandic, a "language" of nonsense words selected by the band that sound similar to Icelandic.- Music video :The music video for the...

      " (with Icelandic at the end)
    • "Mílanó"
    • "Gong"
    • "Andvari"
    • "Svo hljótt" (following the Icelandic line "Ég þakka þér þá von... [I appreciate your hope]")
  • From Hvarf:
    • "Salka"
    • "Hljómalind
      Hljómalind
      "Hljómalind" is a song by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós from their 2007 album Hvarf/Heim. It was released on heavyweight 7" vinyl as the album's first single on October 29, 2007. The B-side of the single features a live acoustic version of the song "Starálfur"...

      "
    • "Í Gær"
    • "Von"
    • "Hafsól" (in the middle and towards the end)
  • From Heim:
    • "Vaka"
    • "Ágætis byrjun" (towards the end)
    • "Von"
  • From Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
    Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
    -Track listing:-Personnel:* Jón Þór Birgisson – vocals, guitar* Kjartan Sveinsson – keyboards* Georg Hólm – bass* Orri Páll Dýrason – drumsStrings: Amiina...

    :
    • "Við spilum endalaust" (with Hopelandic in all the refrains between the lines "Við spiluðum [we played]" and in the end)
    • "Festival"
    • "Ára bátur" (following the Icelandic line "Ég fór, þú fórst [I went, you went]" + entire second half)
    • "Fljótavik" (towards the end)
    • "All Alright" (towards the end)
  • Other Songs:
    • "Fönklagið"
    • "Gítardjamm"
    • "Nýja lagið"
    • "Heima" [DVD version]

Members

  • Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson
    Jón Þór Birgisson
    Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson is the guitarist and vocalist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is known for his use of a cello bow on guitar and his falsetto voice. He is also blind in his right eye and is openly gay. His boyfriend Alex Somers has done much of the graphic design for...

     – lead vocals, guitars, bowed guitar, keyboards, harmonica, banjo, bass (since 1994)
  • Georg “Goggi” Hólm
    Georg Hólm
    Georg "Goggi" Hólm is the bassist of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. Holm is the most prominent member of Sigur Rós in the English press, as he does significantly more press than the other members due to his being the most fluent English-speaker in the band; part of Georg's fluency in...

     – bass guitar, glockenspiel, toy piano, backing vocals (since 1994)
  • Kjartan “Kjarri” Sveinsson
    Kjartan Sveinsson
    Kjartan "Kjarri" Sveinsson is a keyboardist of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He joined the band in 1998. Being something of a multi-instrumentalist, he has also played such instruments as the flute, tin whistle, oboe and even the banjo, as well as many of the unorthodox instruments that...

     – synthesizers, keyboards, piano, organs, programming, guitars, flute, tin whistle, oboe, banjo, backing vocals (since 1998)
  • Orri Páll Dýrason
    Orri Páll Dýrason
    Orri Páll Dýrason is the drummer for Sigur Rós. He joined the band in 1999, shortly after the recording of the studio album Ágætis byrjun, when the previous drummer, Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson, left the band. He married Lukka Sigurðardóttir in Hawaii in 2005. They have a son together born in January...

     – drums, keyboards (since 1999)

Discography

  • Von
    Von (album)
    Von is the debut album of Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós.The production of the album took a long time, and the end result sounded significantly different from the original recordings. The band considered scrapping the final result and starting all over again, but decided not to because it...

     (1997)
  • Ágætis byrjun
    Ágætis byrjun
    Ágætis byrjun is the second album by the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, which was released in 1999. Ágætis byrjun was recorded between the summer of 1998 to the spring of 1999 with producer Ken Thomas, and became Sigur Rós's breakthrough album, both critically and commercially...

     (1999)
  • is the third full-length album from Icelandic band Sigur Rós, first released in October 2002. It comprises eight untitled tracks, divided into two parts: the first four tracks are lighter and more optimistic, while the latter four are bleaker and more melancholic. The two halves are divided by a...

     (2002)
  • Takk...
    Takk...
    Takk... is the fourth full-length studio album by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós. The first singles, "Glósóli" and "Sæglópur", were released on August 15, 2005 and August 16, 2005 respectively, the former worldwide and the latter only in the United States. The single "Hoppípolla" was released in the...

     (2005)
  • Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
    Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
    -Track listing:-Personnel:* Jón Þór Birgisson – vocals, guitar* Kjartan Sveinsson – keyboards* Georg Hólm – bass* Orri Páll Dýrason – drumsStrings: Amiina...

     (2008)
  • Inni
    Inni
    Inni has received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews"..Marc Hogan from Spin wrote: "After...

    (2011)
  • TBA (2012)
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