For the first time, the band Sigur Rós will present itself to Czech listeners next year, accompanied by the Philharmonic. With melancholic and drawn-out music from frosty Iceland, interwoven with singer Jónsí’s soft falsetto, he will perform twice, on September 3 and 4 at the Prague Congress Center.
The Czech National Symphony Orchestra will join the group on both evenings. The Charmenko agency, which organizes the event, announced this on Monday. Tickets will be available from Friday at Ticketmaster and Goout.
The Icelandic band has existed since 1994. They are often labeled as post-rock. It has a typically dreamy, slow and mellow sound. In epically long, melancholic compositions, the musicians use experimental and minimalist elements, as well as combining rock instruments with electronics. The result is music that, with its attractiveness, evokes wild and untouched Icelandic nature for some.
She is full of emotions. In addition to the falsetto of frontman Jónsi, who sings a combination of Icelandic and a fictional language, the sound is typical of the stringed electric guitar.
Sigur Rós, which translates to Victory Rose, are named after the singer’s younger sister. They drew attention to themselves around the turn of the millennium with the records Von and Ágætis Byrjun. Icelanders themselves later named it the best album in their country’s history in a national poll.
At the time, Sigur Rós music was also featured on the soundtracks of the Hollywood films Vanilla Sky and Life Under Water. Videos also helped spread her fame, for example the one directed by Italian photographer Floria Sigismondi won the MTV Europe Music Award for best music video in 2003.
The Valtari records from 2012 and the following Kveikur were particularly successful commercially. At the same time, Sigur Rós became the main stars of the Colors of Ostrava festival, where they performed in an expanded eleven-member line-up. So far, they played their last concert in autumn 2022 in Prague’s O2 universe. The year before, they released an album called Átta, the first after a ten-year hiatus. He will present songs from it next year at a pair of concerts in Prague, where, accompanied by an orchestra, he will complement them with a cross-section of older works. Keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson, who recently returned to the formation, will once again be a part of the line-up.
Video: Single from Sigur Rós latest album
The single Klettur from the latest Sigur Rós album called Átta. | Video: BMG Rights Management