The track comes just in time for the warm up for the upcoming tour with orchestra. Watch the music video here.
After ODIN’S RAVEN MAGIC, an orchestral collaboration by Sigur Rós with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Andersen and Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir from 2002, was released in 2020 and the Icelanders’ most recent studio album is still KVEIKUR from 2013, you can now look forward to a new sign of life be happy. “Blóðberg” (translated: thyme) is the name of the group’s newly released single – there is also a music video for it.
The track, which again stands out for its lavish use of strings, is released punctually for the warm-up to the upcoming tour with orchestra. “Blóðberg” is not only the first real official new song release in ten years, but also to be understood as feedback from multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson, who returned to the band in 2022 and was able to immortalize himself musically in the piece for the first time .
The clip was directed by Johan Renck, who has worked as a director and musician with artists such as Madonna, Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, New Order and Lana Del Rey. He also directed episodes of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. Commenting on the video, the filmmaker says: “I feel as nihilistic as one can get when it comes to the future. We are powerless against our own stupidities. Some aspects of this merged with my impressions of the themes of ‘Blóðberg’. The music became a sheet music to my own wretched thoughts and gave them beauty as only music can.”
The music video for “Blóðberg”:
The group’s tour kicks off in London on June 16 and will travel through Europe and North America through August. On June 18th they will play their only Germany date in Hamburg in the Elbphilharmonie.
Sigur Rós: tour dates
The tour in Europe
- 16 June, London, UK – Royal Festival Hall (Meltdown Festival)
- June 17, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Concertgebouw (Holland Festival)
- June 18, Hamburg, Germany – Elbphilharmonie
- July 3, Paris, France – Philharmonie de Paris (Days Off Festival)
The tour in the USA
- August 14, Toronto, ON – Roy Thomson Hall
- August 16, New York City, NY—Beacon Theatre
- August 18, Brooklyn, NY – King’s Theatre
- August 19, Boston, MA – Wang Theater
- August 21, Minneapolis, MN – State Theatre
- August 24, Seattle, WA – The Paramount Theater
- August 26, Berkeley, CA – The Greek Theater at UC Berkeley
- August 28, Los Angeles, CA – The Greek Theatre
More about Sigur Rós
Already in October 2022, the band announced a reissue of their third studio album “( )” for the 20th anniversary. The 2002 reissue of the album was remastered by engineer Ted Jenson and includes B-sides and previously unreleased demos.
Their seventh and current album, KVEIKUR, was released in 2013. At the end of 2020 the band presented their orchestral project ODIN’S RAVEN MAGIC.
Last year, singer and guitarist Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson embarked on their first world tour together in a long time, celebrating the return of their keyboardist after he hadn’t been part of the band for a decade. Later in the set, they also introduced the tracks “Gold 2”, “Gold 4” and “Angelus 4” – all new singles that had not yet been released.