Visitors this winter to Sundlaugin Studio, on the outskirts of Reykjavik, would have been greeted by an unexpected and rewarding sight and sound. Not only the making of the first Sigur Rós album since Kveikur in 2013, but the three makers: not only the ever-present Jónsi and Georg but also Kjartan, who had left the band in 2012.

Is it strange to be reunited, or does it feel strangely normal?

“It’s really normal,” says Jónsi. “It doesn’t feel that long apart at all.”

“It’s bit like nothing happened,” ventures Kjartan. “Maybe because we had worked a lot together before. There is a saying in Icelandic, and in English too, that we have hit the ground running.”

What kind of record are they making? Besides Sigur Rós’ signature sound – “bold guitar and piano and Georg’s fat bass sounds,” asserts Kjartan – they have also recorded orchestral parts at London’s legendary Abbey Road studios. “When we started to write the album,” says Kjartan, “we just thought, wouldn’t it be nice to do something beautiful?”

Jónsi: [looking at Kjartan}: “You’re so corny!”
Georg: “But that’s absolutely right, I agree.”
Kjartan: “Maybe not very rhythmically driven, but more atmospheric.”
Could the lack of a drummer be the reason? Orri left in 2018, which makes the new album the first by this reunited trinity. Will there be drums? “Possibly not,” says Kjartan. “But everything seems quite open-ended, and seeing what happens. All of a sudden, we recorded a lot of electronics today.”
Georg: “That’s because Jónsi didn’t want to record his guitar!”
Kjartan: “But that’s great, because new things happen. In the end, it might be completely different. That’s very Sigur Rós.”

It’s also very Sigur Rós to avoid justifying creative decisions. “For us,” says Georg, “it’s more, ‘Does it sounds good? Does it feel good? Yeah? Do we like it? Yeah.”

The origins of the new – currently untitled – album lie in Jónsi and Kjartan rekindling their musical bond, for pleasure more than a game plan, free of expectations and deadlines. But when Georg heard what they had come up with, “I thought, I can be part of that,” he says.

Jónsi and Kjartan agreed. “Initially, it was nothing to do with Sigur Rós, but with time it became the obvious way forward,” says Kjartan. “Georg brings so much energy.”
As for Kjartan, “It’s great to have him back,” says Jónsi. “He’s such a genius melody-maker.”
But is it strange not to have a drummer in the studio? “I guess it is weird,” says Georg, “but for this music, it seems to be happening quite naturally.”

Kjartan: “We have often made music without drums.”

Jónsi: “What we’ve been writing has no drums, or just a bass drum pulse.”

Since Kjartan’s departed a decade ago, “to do something different,” he said at the time, he was still in touch with the others. For starters, he took over running the Sundlaugin studio from the band, who part-recorded Kveikur there. He was also heavily involved in the release in 2020 of a live version of the band’s orchestral/choral opera Odin’s Raven Magic that they’d last performed in 2004. But still, no new album (they’d tried to record one on that world tour, “and failed miserably,” says Georg.
Once Jónsi had moved to LA and continued work on his second solo album (Shiver was released in 2020, followed by its surprise sequel Obsidian in 2021), it became that much harder. And then there was a little factor called Covid…

Georg: “It had been normal for us to take a break before, for two or three years. I guess nine years between albums is abnormal, but things happened. And maybe we’d be further along if it wasn’t for Covid.”

Not only is there an album coming but also Sigur Rós’ first live dates in four years, starting with a North American tour from April 30th until June 18th. New songs will be previewed alongside older favourites.

Jónsi: “Playing in front of people, I haven’t done that for so long.”

Kjartan: [Looking at Jónsi] “I don’t worry about that – you always take all the pressure, centre-stage. I always had my office. How many keyboards did I have? About six! And amps, all surrounding me.”
Jónsi: “There can only be one spotlight on this tour, and one tiny keyboard!”

But first, they have to finish the album and then start tour rehearsals, up against the clock…

“It’s pressure!” says Georg. “But we’re also enjoying it. I’m having nightmares and stuff, but I’m quite sure we will pull through! Five minutes before we walk on stage, I know it will be like, Let’s go! it’s going to be fine.”