Jónsi's Joyous Outburst

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Apr 6, 2010 6:20PM

Iceland's Sigur Ros may be on hiatus but you wouldn't know it from the output of frontman Jónsi Birgisson. Last summer he put out the side-project Riceboy Sleeps with boyfriend/Parachutes-cofounder Alex Somers under the name Jonsí & Alex. And now Jonsí is back with Go, his first solo effort. If Riceboy Sleeps, a cool, ambient work of loops, strings, and noise with little in the way of vocals, worked for the slip into autumn and winter, then Go is the perfect album for the transition to spring. A joyous, buoyant, and sometimes raucous record, Go sounds (to borrow a phrase from Tankboy) like Sigur Ros snorted pixie sticks. Gone are the eight minute opuses. Instead, each song is its own short symphonic burst - only two songs barely edge past the five minute mark - perhaps due to producer Nico Mulhy but also a reflection of the trend that Sigur Ros has been working toward over the course of their recent albums.

A lot will be made of the fact most of the album is sung in English though it's still hard to sometimes catch some of what Jónsi's singing. And yet the message - from the lyrics to the sound of the album to the title itself - is clear: go. Be alive. On the album's second track, the galloping, percussive "Animal Arithmetic," Jónsi croons, "Every time, everyone, everything's full of life/ Every day, everywhere, people are so alive/ We should all be (oh) alive." It's a simple, straight-forward message but that's okay. With this much energy and music this gorgeous, simple works just fine. The triumphant Technicolor of "Boy Lilikoi" and the sparkling "Sinking Friendships" are songs that deserve to be listened to under the warmth and glare of springtime sun. And the stellar "All Around Us" is propelled forward by thundering, throbbing percussion, reaching a beautiful, orchestral climax before gently ushering the listener down from those heights with a stringed outtro that fades into a gentle hush over the song's final of two minutes.

Even the album's quieter moments, like closer "Hengilás" with its warm horns, embody the feeling of being alive and in the moment. As flowers bloom, trees bud, and temperatures warm, Go is the perfect record for a walk around the neighborhood, a ride on the train, or anything that involves being outdoors as our little part of the world awakens from it's winter slumber. It's the time to get outside and be alive.

Jónsi, Tuesday April 27th and Wednesday April 28th, The Vic, 3145 N Sheffield, 7:30 p.m. both nights, $34 via Ticketmaster, All ages