DOWNLOAD: Jónsi

By Marcus Gilmer in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 9, 2009 8:45PM

Leave it to the main mind behind Sigur Ros to bring us one of the more boisterous tracks we'll be playing to keep our spirits up this winter. But Jónsi (known by his parents as Jón Þór Birgisson) has brought a delightful new single in advance of his solo album Go which is due in March 2010. The track, "Boy Lilikoi," is sung fully in English; with Jónsi's voice, though, the ear catches only certain phrases like "You reignite/You growl, you howl, you show your teeth/You bite, it's alright."

Military snares and throbbing, almost tribal bass drums propel the song forward as it amasses more and more instrumentation: flourishes of flutes, swirling strings, crashing cymbals, cascading backing vocals, all touches from producer Nico Muhly (who's worked with Grizzly Bear, among others). It builds a full head of steam such that at two-thirds in, the song slows itself down to catch its breath before exploding in a technicolor climax as Jónsi croons, "You run past the years/No place to go/Your spirit is grand/So life goes on." The song seems to be something of a cousin of Sigur Ros song "Gobbledigook" from their record Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust in spirit but stripped of some of the experimental instrumentation that set that song apart from the rest of the record. In fact, "Boy Lilikoi" feels as straight-forward a song as anything Jónsi's done. Not that that's a bad thing; anything this upbeat and joyous promises to get lots of play on our office stereo as we trudge through the impending winter.

DOWNLOAD: Jónsi "Boy Lilikoi"