With the release last year of live album/film Inni, Sigur Rós announced that the band were heading in a new direction implying that the final show at Alexander Palace in London marked the end of an era.
With the success of Jónsi‘s solo album, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if the Icelanders had called it a day and finished on a high note.
Fears that they might be moving into glitch-pop or jazz-funk can be laid to rest with the preview track Ekki múkk from the new album die out on May 26th.
The video for the tune, by Jónsi’s sister, Inga Birgisdóttir, shows a ship floating slowly across but not on a glimmering ocean and , although the album title – Valtari – is the Icelandic word for steamroller, this is the kind of dreamy, captivating sound we know and love.
If it ain’t broken, why fix it? appears to be the message, which is a relief to me personally as I have tickets to see the band in Verona this summer.
