Archive for the ‘Jonsi & Alex’ Category

This is the debut studio record from the ambient duo Jónsi & Alex, a collaboration between Sigur Rós vocalist Jón Þór Birgisson (Jónsi) and partner Alex Somers that deftly combines acoustic instrumental music alongside a string quartet, Amiina, and the Kópavogsdætur Choir. To call the album ambient is truly understating things. The ambient can be carved with a chainsaw.

I have to admit openly, I’m not always the biggest fan of the work of Sigur Rós, Iceland’s second most famous musical export after Björk. Sometimes, I feel like their stuff drags on a little too long, and is slow and depressing for the sake of being slow and depressing. But the Riceboy Sleeps album doesn’t have those qualities. While some of the track times are fairly long, they’re not too long. And without any discernable lyrics, it’s tough to be depressed by this record. It’s one of those good “I really need to relax right now, possibly even sleep, and I need an album to help me do that” albums. The acoustic qualities blend beautifully with the less organic qualities of the record. It’s tough to say much more about a record that has very little to say itself. 

Notable tracks: “Boy 1904,” which supposedly has the last known castrati singer ever recorded (thank God they stopped that barbaric practice), “Daníell In The Sea,” (for which there is a video on their official website), and the opening cut “Happiness,” which has many qualities of the Gavin Bryars 1995 minimalist-classical piece The Sinking Of The Titanic without ever really stealing from it. 

3.5 out of 5 stars.

~Mark Massi