Latest Release

- NOV 17, 2023
- 20 Songs
- Takk... · 2005
- Ágætis Byrjun · 1999
- Kveikur · 2013
- Ágætis Byrjun · 1999
- Takk... · 2005
- Valtari · 2012
- ( ) · 2002
- ( ) · 2002
- Game of Thrones: Season 4 (Music from the HBO Series) · 2014
- Takk... · 2005
Essential Albums
- 2002
- Sigur Rós’ second record—their first to be widely heard outside their native Iceland—is one of those epochal, game-changing albums that redefined what is possible in rock music. In this case, it proved that a neoclassical, shoegazing post-rock band specializing in glacially paced 10-minute movements sung in a made-up, indecipherable dialect could attract a mass audience and become one of the most influential alt-rock groups of their generation. Ágætis Byrjun delivers one weighty moment after another: sonar-pinged arias that gradually accrue enough force to shift tectonic plates (“Svefn-F-Englar”); meditative piano ballads that erupt into shrieking symphonic psychedelia ("Viðrar vel til loftárása"); choral sing-alongs that sound like Christmas in heaven (“Olsen Olsen”). But for all of his band’s grandiose gestures, Jónsi Birgisson's crystalline, androgynous coo turns Ágætis Byrjun into an intensely intimate experience. Even if you can’t understand what he’s saying, his vulnerable voice has the uncanny power to tap into your most repressed emotions and deep-seated bittersweet memories.
Artist Playlists
- Widescreen post-rock that speaks in its own language.
- Indie minimalists unlock ethereal sounds from seemingly nothing.
- Chamber rock, ambient miniatures, and spiritual uplift.
- The Icelandic post-rock group's most chilling hidden gems.
Compilations
- 2007
More To Hear
- The DJ/producer's debut One Mix to celebrate his debut album.
About Sigur Rós
Experimental post-rock outfit Sigur Rós is one of Iceland’s most successful bands, earning a trio of Platinum albums and six chart-toppers in their home country and critical acclaim abroad. ∙ Ágætis Byrjun, their 1999 breakout, was the first album ever to win the prestigious Shortlist Music Prize, which was launched to honor independent releases. ∙ All the songs on 2002’s Grammy-nominated ( ) are sung in a made-up language the band calls Vonlenska (or Hopelandic, in English), leaving their meanings up to listeners’ interpretation. ∙ Their signature track, “Hoppípolla,” and their sole No. 1, “Glósóli,” appeared on 2005’s Takk…, which won a trio of Icelandic Music Awards. ∙ “Gobbledigook,” from 2008’s Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust, was a Top 10 hit in Iceland and landed on year-end best-of lists from Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. ∙ Director Cameron Crowe asked frontman Jónsi to score 2011’s We Bought a Zoo, and said that the film was inspired by his solo album, Go, and the band documentary Heima. ∙ In 2014, they portrayed a group of minstrels in an episode of Game of Thrones, performing a version of “The Rains of Castamere,” a key song that recurred throughout the series.
- HOMETOWN
- Reykjavík, Iceland
- FORMED
- January 4, 1994