Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.07.2004, Blaðsíða 26
PLEASE DON’T INTERRUPT SIGUR RÓS
by Bart Cameron
Here’s the important thing: Sigur Rós is recording a brilliant
new album at their studio in Mosfellsbær. The band, which recently
celebrated their tenth birthday, is working together at a level that
will astonish fans and anybody interested in contemporary music.
Sigur Rós are critics’ darlings and they have a fanatic fan base
- next year, they will prove they deserved all the attention and they
will get much, much bigger.
INTERVIEW
As the photographer drove me out
of Reykjavík, complaining about
Mosfellsbær as a suburb that takes
too long on the bus, I could help
noticing that, boring as the town
may be, most people in the world
would be impressed with its beauty
- set under mountains and against a
bay. Sundlaug, Sigur Rós’ studio, is
a striking building: an old concrete
swimming pool, yes, but an old
concrete swimming pool with a
river running underneath it, a duck
pond on one side, and a terraced
hill that has been used as a natural
amphitheatre on another.
Everybody can play anything
When we finally opened the door
to the studio, after standing outside
and just listening for a full song, the
band was slightly thrown off. Yes,
we were expected. Jónsi, singer and
multi-instrumentalist (everybody in
the band can play anything), gave us
an embarrassed tour of the studio.
The band went to put on their shoes
and head out to a bakery. In an ideal
world, we would have interviewed
at the bakery. There were no seats,
and nobody was really interested in
clearing out. Nobody was interested
in the critically acclaimed band at all.
The only thing that drew attention
was me ordering in English.
So we returned to the studio and
ducked into a modest nook. I sat on
a stool, took out my notebook and
everything got boring.
Then, when they were done with
the interview, everyone in the band
started smiling and stretching. Their
work was done. I stayed on and got
out of the way, and the band ran
down to the bottom of the old pool
and started playing vibraphone and
organ.
There were almost no effects. And
Jónsi sang without a mic. His
voice was still haunting. It still
carried perfectly. Jónsi played the
groundwork, or the centering chords,
on organ, and on top of that the
other band members weaved melodic
hooks. The closest comparison might
be some of the instrumentation in
Belle and Sebastion’s new album
- it was crystal clear, complex,
and hypermelodic. As the song
continued, the band, laughing and
smiling, ran to different instruments.
By the end of song one, there was a
solid drum beat and driving bassline,
and the song genuinely felt complete.
Powerhouse English tea time
dream rock
During the second song, I made
the depressing realization that
everybody in Sigur Rós can play the
vibraphone well. Again, everybody
was running around from instrument
to instrument, building this time
to a denouement in which a toy
piano kicked out its slight notes over
music that I can only describe as
powerhouse English tea time dream
rock.
The band was happy. I was happy.
The photographer was happy. I said,
“That was great. Really great.”
Watching them perform their new
songs was a highpoint in my life as
a music fan, seriously, and the band
is made up of very nice people, but
interviewing them sucked. Trust me.
Fifteen seconds into the interview,
Jónsi and Ragnar walked out of the
room. Fifteen minutes later, Orri and
Goggi and I decided to just give up.
“It´s changed”
And that’s part of the point of Sigur
Rós, by the way. For a band that
produced an untitled album with
Hopelandic lyrics and ten-minute
songs, a pat interview might be
unsettling. Here’s an excerpt of what
I got out of the interview:
Bart: Can you describe the music on
the new album?
Goggi: It’s changed.
Bart: And how has it changed?
silence
Goggi: Our music evolves naturally.
silence
Bart: Well, were you influenced by
any music for this album? Any CDs
make a big impression?
Goggi: Hip hop.
Bart: Really?
Goggi: No…Nothing we know is
influencing our music.
Orri, who up to this point has been
extremely quiet: We’re never on the
same page.
Okay, it goes on like that. Which is
not to say they were mean-spirited.
They were just quiet.
“Unbelievably quiet”
Björn Erlingur Flóki Björnsson
runs Sigur Rós’ official website,
www.sigur-ros.co.uk. He laughed
uncontrollably when I told him I’d
had a bad interview.
“Everybody does. Who’d you get?”
I told him Goggi and Orri, the
bassist and drummer.
“That’s the worst pair. They’re so
unbelievably quiet.”
So what the hell, I said. These are
nice guys, they make great music,
why intentionally give me a bad
interview?
It was nothing personal: “I got a bad
interview, too. I got those two…
Sigur Rós will do anything to avoid
business. To them interviews are
business.”
“Everybody knows they’re not big
on interviews,” he went on to say.
“The worst thing is the way foreign
magazines go on and on about how
quiet the guys are. They overhype
the reserved qualities. They love
making Icelandic things more
unique than they are. ‘Oh they’re so
Icelandic!’”
No, their lack of interest in
interviews is not typically Icelandic.
Look, Sigur Rós just isn’t a band you
interview. Let’s leave it at that. If you
want a good interview with Sigur
Rós, well, ask yourself why.
Sigur Ros’ new album should be
completed early next year. When
it comes out, hopefully people
will relax and enjoy it instead of
interrupting with questions… or
even compliments.
H
.S
.
Oldest bakery in Iceland
since 1834
BERGSTAÐASTRÆTI 13
- PHONE: 551 3083
26