[Cover photo courtesy of the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles. Photo by Paul Salveson]
This past October, Jónsi, surprise released a brand-new project Obsidian, via his art installation of the same name at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in NYC. The music for Obsidian has now been mixed in full spatial Dolby Atmos audio by Paul Corley and Michael Keeley and is available as his third solo studio album.
Co-produced and mixed by Paul Corley (Yves Tumor, Oneohtrix Point Never, Ben Frost, Koreless) and Nathan Salon, Obsidian follows a more ambient path than its predecessor, Shiver which was released just over a year ago. The project was inspired by a volcano that has been dormant for nearly eight hundred years, and recently erupted, Fagradalsfjall, in Iceland.
Since Jónsi was unable to travel to his homeland and experience the rare phenomenon of the eruption, the artist instead created his art exhibit, featuring two new sound installations, and a series of sculptural works, each presenting a “sensorial proposition”. Obsidian the album has 10 tracks, each with titles referencing “sights, textures, and aromas of the ashen terrain”.
Jónsi is founding member of Sigur Rós, and has also made music for film, as a solo artist, and as a duo, Jónsi and Alex. His artistic interests have led him to create his own custom scents, into woodcarving, and into formulating anti-anxiety CBD tinctures.
