Riceboy Sleeps

by

Jónsi & Alex

Edit

I always had a feeling that jonsi was not of this world... now i know. What Jonsi (Jón Þór Birgisson)-sigur ros' frontman can do with music is not like anything i have ever heard. and it is beautiful.

I have been a fan of 'ambient' music for some time now, i'm sure this album will get lumped in the ambient genre somewhere, but it has something that sets it apart from the others - layers. layers and depth. It is hard to put into words just what it is, but i hear sounds of my childhood in these songs. i hear everyday sounds shimmering in the backround and it is very comforting and it takes me to another place.

watch the video for 'all the big trees', or listen to 'daniell in the sea' (my favorite song, but i love them all) and you may see what i mean.

I would suggest this album naturally to any sigur ros (or even amiina) fans, or anyone that would just like to escape to another world created by Jonsi and Alex.

After release a couple of singles (one of them, "Happiness", included in "Dark Was The Night" compilation and that they signed still as Riceboys Sleeps) "Jónsi" Þór Birgisson (Sigur Rós) and Alex Somers (Parachutes) finally delivered his first album "Riceboy Sleeps" with which they materialize the musical side of this collaboration initially conceived as a visual art project (Somers, Birgisson's boyfriend, has designed much of the art of the Sigur Rós albums) but now naturally extended to music field. Recorded exclusively with acoustic instruments and the participation of Amiina string quartet, Sigur Ros regular collaborators, and the Kópavogsdætur chorus, "Riceboy Sleeps" is a record dense and relaxed at the same time in which Birgisson and Somers not only do not stray the sound of their "main" bands but making it even more radicalized to create quite atmospheric and ethereal music. OK, let say this: next to "Riceboy Sleeps", "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" the last album by Sigur Rós, could be almost considered a conventional pop album. Over little more than an hour "Jónsi" and Alex create long, dreamy, barely whispered soundscapes that gently swaying between ambient and experimental music. At first listen "Riceboy Sleeps" risks to end up being one of those records that are played as background music in "relax sessions", but it's worth listen it with attention, let your guard down and being involved to enjoy the almost celestial atmospheres created by Birgisson and Somers.

As i wrote in [...]