Crack

Jon “Jonsi” Birgisson has one of the most instantly recognisable voices in modern music.

The lead vocalist of Icelandic group Sigur Ros, Birgisson’s falsetto voice has perhaps been the defining feature in the make-up of one of the most astounding groups to surface during our lifetime. Sigur Ros are one of the most unique anomalies in music today. They have such a wealth of individual facets, other bands would kill for just one of them. It’s hard to know where to begin with them. Across their five albums they’ve harnessed the kind of revered following reserved for the likes of Radiohead and The Pixies and in the process presented themselves as gentlemen cut from the same pure material as their homeland.

Harnessing the beauty of their surroundings was something instantly recognisable in the work of Sigur Ros. Their documentary Heima (or homeland) showcased the trees, the quiet, the ice, the snow and the sheer perfection of the Icelandic landscape over a series of unannounced gigs in Iceland. The beauty inherent in the landscape forms the fabric of the music.

Jonsi and his band are playing at the Colston Hall and an animated tribe of spiders is scurrying across the backdrop. During another song it’s a wild thunderstorm scene; another sees plants flower and wither in slow, painfully animated detail. One of the most simple and beautiful natural imaginings sees rain water drip down the window of a log cabin, the tiny drips getting heavier as the storm sets in.

The animated film is a continuation of the obvious natural influences in Jonsi’s work and one obvious piece of thematic crossover from Sigur Ros. The film acts as a sterling accompaniment to the high standard of the music.

Jonsi explains: “I have taken a decent amount of time putting the live show together. I come from a theatre and opera background so I work a lot with projections and animations. The guys who put this together did an amazing job.”

The reason to start at this juncture with dissecting Jonsi Birgisson is because it’s clear the natural permeates every level of his music and character as it did Sigur Ros. His leap from one to the other has been seamless, natural and as mesmerising as his band that put his country on the musical map. As sounds whirl and acoustics whip round the Colston Hall’s brilliant sound system it’s an otherworldly experience, set firmly on this planet.

Jonsi’s solo material is not Sigur Ros even though it borrows from it. It’s obvious to anyone who has spent any period of their life listening to the vocals of Sigur Ros that it’s the sound of Jonsi Birgisson and it’s a credit to his new ensemble that the musical comparisons stop here. He sings in English as opposed to Icelandic and the less describable language employed on Sigur Ros records. The percussion and melody are more upbeat. And a more traditional song structure is employed on a number of the tracks.

He explains: “I was trying to experiment and I haven’t sung in English before, so it was a good learning experience. It was quite difficult to do, but it was good. It was important for me to challenge myself. Writing the lyrics and pulling the sound together with them means you have to put a lot of work in, especially in a language you are less comfortable with.”

The line-up is also entirely new. Sharing the band with boyfriend and long time collaborator Alex Somers has clearly been a positive step for Birgisson, but the real coup is the Finnish Samuli Kosminen. His performance tonight is a crazed barrage of energetic and flourishing percussion that tethers the intensity in the other areas of the show. He is a joy to watch. An unbridled smile and a clear passion for his purpose in the band, he looks like the most natural drummer ever.

Life as Jonsi, the other side of Sigur Ros, has effectively been a rite of passage for Birgisson while the other members of the band have more or less been on various forms of paternity leave.

“I’ve been playing with Sigur Ros for 16 years and it’s a long time to work and play in the same band. It’s so good to try something new, meet new people and try some different working methods. I’ve wanted to do this album for a long time without really calling it a solo album as such. I wanted to put myself out there because I am writing a lot of songs. I always wanted to take it one step further by making a great arrangement and composition and release them.

“I think there are two opposites on the album. There is this uplifting, colourful, playful, energetic side to the album and also a more melancholic, sad and slower edge to the songs.”

The result is Go - Jonsi’s debut album. Less progressive than Sigur Ros, but hardly following any guidebook, Go has glorious moments of euphoric beauty intermingled with darker melancholy that take in the full range of Jonsi’s stunning voice. The vocal performance at The Colston Hall defines Jonsi in Crack’s head as one of the most astounding vocalists of our time. The crisp vocal stretches are drawn out and the falsetto tune gives way to a sound that is so pure and natural it’s almost unnatural. He is an astounding performer.

Three-quarters through the gig he dons his trademark red indian headdress and bounds around the stage to epic set-closer Grow Till Tall, in which the aforementioned visual thunderstorm reaches its zenith. Metaphor aside, the crowd are blown away.

If Jonsi has taken the natural beauty prevalent in Sigur Ros’ work he has supplemented it with a show that is very visual and, in places, focuses on him as the artist at the centre. Jonsi is stepping into the light in a colourful fashion. The album cover for Go sees an illustrative image of Jonsi standing tall and strong with a huge emission of rainbow colour flanking him.

“I think there was something about having my name on the front that was quite scary. Emerging from Sigur Ros to do something by myself that had my image on the front cover was crazy because the guys weren’t there to ask their opinions or bounce around ideas. It was really different because I was at the centre and I had a lot to take on. It was super liberating.”

It’s hard not to be enamoured with Jonsi as the influences in his words evoke such inherent positivity. From the themes of nature and the stunning visual way it is presented to the fact that the love of his life shares band space with him and the epic flow of the music, this is the most uncontrived act you will see this year.

Jonsi explains: “I am influenced by everything that inspires me I guess. Your friends, your family, life in general. It changes from time to time. It’s subjective, but that’s such a healthy thing. My two sisters did the front cover and the press shots and they are responsible for crafting that image. They did a really good job and I’m really happy with it. They also pushed me into stuff I haven’t covered before. It’s refreshing.

An acoustic record showcasing the bare bones of the album in its raw form also accompanied the release of Go with Jonsi baring his soul.

He explains: “The acoustic album was a good experiment to try. When I first started writing the songs they were all stripped down and bare and written on an acoustic guitar, piano, harmonium and ukulele. Basically this was how it sounded at the start. It was really nice for people to hear that also. There are so many other sounds on the songs that make the songs sound so different from how they sounded originally.”

There are few more accomplished artists than Jonsi around at the moment. Harnessing the mystique of someone like Karin from The Knife with the Scandinavian beauty that permeates his work, the sky is the limit for Jonsi. What Sigur Ros may go to achieve beyond the colour Jonsi has found in his solo work is mouthwatering.

“I’m going to tour the rest of this year with this project. And between touring next year, I’m going to meet up with the Sigur Ros guys and write and record some more songs.”
We could be in for an absolute treat.



Tune: Grow Till Tall

http://www.myspace.com/jonthorbirgisson

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