Cosmic pounding, gentle throbbing, large areas: Iceland ambience.
One can assume that Sigur Rós were on the brink. The drummer hasn’t been there since 2018, and there were allegations of sexual harassment against him. Keyboarder Kjartan Sveinsson had already left in 2013, when the last album KVEIKUR was released. Did singer Jónsi and bassist Georg Hólm stay, but Sigur Rós as a duo? Hardly imaginable. Then Sveinsson returned – and with him the inspiration for ÁTTA, Icelandic for eight, because: It is the band’s eighth album.
While KVEIKUR was characterized by a certain aggressiveness, ÁTTA sounds like a cosmic surface
While KVEIKUR was characterized by a certain aggressiveness (aggressive in the sense of throwing cotton balls), ÁTTA sounds like a cosmic plane. In keeping with the staff, the keyboard takes up a lot of space, and there are hardly any drums. Orchestra and brass are responsible for special dynamics, singer Jónsi for these very own Sigur-Rós moments that no other group can manage.
The many miniature sounds below the surface are striking, a certain ambient influence can be heard, much is reminiscent of the work of the Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who died in 2018. What ÁTTA also offers: Pop. The gently throbbing “Gold” can be heard as a modern dream pop ballad – off to the “At the End of the Rainbow” playlist.