Iceland’s heroes Sigur Rós are coming to Prague after fourteen years. The famous melancholics and experimenters whose emotionally charged shows are spoken of in superlatives, are returning to Prague.
The band will perform with Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson (vocals, guitars), Georg “Goggi” Holm (bass guitar) and Kjartan “Kjarri” Sveinsson (keyboards), who returns to the band after almost ten years. The band’s name consists of the Icelandic words for “victory” and “rose” and is inspired by the name of Jónsi’s sister Sigurrós, who was born a few days before the band was formed. Since its formation in 1994, the band has released a total of seven albums and become synonymous with spherical-sounding, melancholic melody-laden post-rock. The band itself prefers the label slo-mo rock. Already their debut album (Von) from 1997, which has only recently been released worldwide, is a unique experimental ambient work.
It wasn’t until their second album, 1999’s masterpiece Ágætis byrjun (A Good Beginning), that the band really found their feet. The album was originally released only in Iceland, but was discovered by Brighton-based FatCat Records, who acquired the band and released the record in the UK in August 2000. It earned Sigur Rós huge critical acclaim worldwide, particularly in America. This led to a frantic hunt by major US labels to secure the rights to their material in the States. The band eventually chose the contract that gave them the greatest artistic freedom. It was a deal with MCA Records. In April and May 2001, the band toured North America for the first time and the vast majority of the shows sold out immediately.
Music videos are an integral part of the band’s work. The first one (Svefn-g-englar) was released in June 2000. It features members of the Perlan theatre group, an Icelandic group of actors with Down syndrome who regularly perform in Iceland. One of the other videos (Untitled #1 – Vaka) was directed by teh highly acclaimed Italian director and photographer Floria Sigismondi and was released in February 2003. The video garnered the attention of MTV and became the best music video of 2003 at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
The band is currently working on a new studio album to follow up the fantastic studio albums Valtari (2012) and Kveikur (2013). In addition to selections from Sigur Rós’ twenty-five year discography, the band will also play some brand new music.
More information including tickets can be found here.