[Cover photo credit to Tim Dunk]
Sigur Rós has surprised fans with the news that today they are releasing their first new studio album in ten years. Titled ÁTTA, the ten-track album is available digitally today, Friday June 16th, 2023, with physical formats to follow on September 1st, 2023. A first song lifted from the album, “Blóðberg,” has already been released.
On ÁTTA, the band cite a “new compulsion and drive” that comes with the new formation of the line-up. Multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson is back, having left the band in 2012, to join frontman Jónsi and bassist Georg Holm.
According to Jónsi, with the three friends in a room, “letting the mood speak to them,” they found themselves:
…just wanting to have minimal drums and for the music to be really sparse, floaty and beautiful. We’re getting older and more cynical so I just wanted to move us so that we felt something!
Sveinsson agrees:
We wanted to allow ourselves to be a bit dramatic and go far with these arrangements. The world needs that right now. It’s hard to describe, but for me everything is always open to interpretation. People can think and feel how they want.
Recorded across multiple continents, from the band’s Sundlaugin studio in Iceland, Abbey Road in the UK, and a number of studios in the US, ÁTTA leans heavily towards the orchestral. ÁTTA prominently features the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Robert Ames, alongside brass performed by longtime Icelandic collaborators Brassgat í bala. It is mixed and co-Produced by another frequent collaborator Paul Corley, alongside the band.
Sigur Rós will celebrate ÁTTA with a limited run of dates, performing with a 41-piece orchestra for the first time across Europe and North America. The tour kicks off at Meltdown Festival in the UK on the day of album release, where the band will perform with the London Contemporary Orchestra, who also accompany them on their following European tour dates. They will be accompanied by the Wordless Music Orchestra in North America. All orchestral dates will be conducted by Rob Ames.
Sigur Rós Tour Dates
6/16 London, UK — Royal Festival Hall – SOLD OUT
6/17 Amsterdam, Netherlands — Concertgebouw – SOLD OUT
6/18 Hamburg, Germany — Elbphilharmonie – SOLD OUT
7/3 Paris, France — Philharmonie Main Hall – SOLD OUT
8/14 Toronto, ON — Roy Thomson Hall – SOLD OUT
8/16 New York City, NY — Beacon Theatre – SOLD OUT
8/18 Brooklyn, NY — Kings Theatre – SOLD OUT
8/19 Boston, MA — Wang Theatre – SOLD OUT
8/21 Minneapolis, MN — State Theatre – SOLD OUT
8/24 Seattle, WA — The Paramount Theatre – SOLD OUT
8/26 Berkeley, CA — The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley – SOLD OUT
8/27 Los Angeles, CA — The Greek Theatre – SOLD OUT
