Sigur Rós Will Bring Otherworldly Symphonies to the Arsht Center

If you heard the alien soundscape that Sigur Rós has crafted over the last few decades without knowing anything of the trio, it would not surprise you that its members harken from a distant outpost. Maybe you'd guess the ambient sounds centered by a male falsetto voice were birthed somewhere in the Alpha Centauri star system.

But it was Reykjavík, Iceland, where singer/guitarist Jónsi Birgisson and bassist Georg Hólm met as teenagers in the mid-'90s.

"Eventually, it came up that we should go into a studio and record a song. We really liked it and had a sound similar to what we're doing today," Hólm tells New Times on a phone call from his native Iceland, which he notes is having its wettest and windiest summer in a decade or perhaps a century.

Though it makes sense that Birgisson was really into the German electronic pioneers Tangerine Dream, their other early influences were surprisingly more rock-ish.

"We liked Spiritualized. We listened a lot to Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream. It doesn't sound like us, but that really bonded us," Hólm says, fondly remembering the Reykjavík music scene from which they spawned. "It was a great time in Iceland. There were so many bands with original sounds. No one was trying to copy anyone else, and we all played shows together. It was a really nice wave we rolled in on."

They were signed rather quickly to Bad Taste, the label that once hosted their nation's most famous musical talent, Björk. Hólm heartily laughs when told that the band's Wikipedia page says Bad Taste signed Sigur Rós "because they thought the falsetto vocals would appeal to teenage girls."

"That's great. That sounds like something Bad Taste would say. If they were being serious, you never know," he says.
Even though Sigur Rós didn't produce the easily digestible pop music that often appeals to teenage girls, the band's beautifully dreamy music did find a devoted audience. They've traveled the world to perform their music and are returning to Miami for the first time since 2013 on Monday, September 30, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

"We're coming with such a different show from 2013. That was our rock 'n' roll show that was very loud with flashing lights," Hólm shares." This is more personal and more intimate where we'll be playing with a string orchestra."

Performing alongside the 40-person Wordless Music Orchestra undoubtedly is a very different experience from performing as a three-piece.

"It was very strange and surreal the first time. We did not want the shows to be Sigur Rós with an orchestra. We want to integrate ourselves into it, make it more of a dialogue. I think it works," Hólm explains. "The three of us don't disappear, but we're also not two different entities."

The trio will perform music from their latest record, 2023's Átta, their first album in a decade. "It was about time," he says. "It comes to us this need; this calling appears in front of us. It's time to work on something." That something was their eighth album, with Átta being Icelandic for eight.

Hólm wasn't present when the sparks for Átta were kindled. "Jónsi lives in Los Angeles. Kjartan Sveinsson was visiting, and they were jamming. They came up with some ideas that sounded amazing and said, 'Oh shit, I think we started a record.' So they called me, which was very kind of them, and we got to work."

With Iceland's less-than-ideal weather this summer, Hólm says he's especially eager to perform in front of Miami. "It has been a year since we played a show," he says. "We start in Detroit, and I'm looking forward to perfecting the show by the time we get to Miami."
 
Sigur Rós. With the Wordless Music Orchestra. 8 p.m. Monday, September 30 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-949-6722; arshtcenter.org. Tickets cost $105 to $182.