Jónsi

Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson (born on 23 April 1975) is the guitar player and vocalist of the group Sigur Rós. He creates uniquely climatic music using the cello bow for playing the electric guitar, and in his vocal style, he often reaches for falsetto. Jónsi plays on a Gibson Les Paul guitar. He also uses the white Ibanez Les Paul. Since the year 2006 he has been using a guitar created on the concert tour by his technician at the time – Dan Johnson. The guitar – thanks to ornaments in the shape of bird visible on the neck and frets of the guitar - is usually called The Bird. The musician also plays many other instruments, among others, the piano and banjo. Together with Alex Somers – his life partner – they create an artistic project called Jónsi & Alex and are preparing graphic projects, which Sigur Rós use. In 2009 Jónsi and Alex created their first album called Riceboy Sleeps. The quartet Amiina and the choir Kópavogsdætur appeared as guests on the album.

The album Go contains nine pieces performed in Icelandic and English. The producers of the CD are: Jónsi, Alex Somers and Peter Katis (The National, Interpol). The album is a firework combining various types of music – pop, rock, ambient, electronic. In creating it, the artists worked with Nico Muhlym, the protégé of Philip Glass, known for his cooperation, among others, with Björk, Antony & the Johnsons, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Grizzly Bear. On 1 December 2009, Jónsi's official website was put up www.jonsi.com, announcing the debut solo album. On 4 December 2009, users of the correspondence list of the website were given access to the free MP3 file with the track Boy Lilikoi. The file announced the title of the album – Go – as well as established the date of the world premier for 5 April 2010 under the wings of the record company Parlophone and XL Recordings. The album has been available for a few days now in music stores around the whole world.

Sigur Rós – the group, which leader is Jónsi, established in January 1994 in Reykjavik. Initially, it consisted of: Jón þor (Jónsi) Birgisson, bass player Georg Holm and drums player Agust Aevar Gunnarsson. Later the keyboard player, Kjartan Sveisson, joined them. In 1999, after a few years of working together, the musicians released the album Agestis Byrjun – by many regarded as genius and a breakthrough in the history of the group. The album gained the acknowledgment of critics and many prestigious awards (it was among others considered as the best Icelandic album of the nineties). In Europe, the album was released in 2000, in the United States – a year later. Soon after the album was released, the drums player left the band, who was replaced by Orri Pall Dyrason. During this time, Sigur Rós began cooperation with the British record company FatCat, and subsequent pieces took over the world hits lists by a storm. For the next album – “(...)” – fans had to wait over three years (2002). In the year 2005, the album Takk… was released, and in 2008 – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust.