Sigur Ros’ Jonsi and Alex slow cook Riceboy Sleeps album for Vivid
Slow cooked meals or a train ride through Tuscany are to be savoured, as is Jonsi Birgisson’s album Riceboy Sleeps, which got a mesmerising outing as part of Vivid.
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The Sigur Ros guitarist and vocalist Jonsi Birgisson, with his musical collaborator and partner American artist Alex Somers, whose paintings adorn Sigur Ros album covers, were joined by the 21-piece Sydney International Orchestra and a choir of 12 singers under the baton of English conductor Robert Ames for the Vivid event.
The concert marks the 10th anniversary of the album, the first solo outing by the Icelandic musician with the soaring countertenor voice and the duo’s debut project together. It was also the first time the 67-minute suite of nine songs has been performed live and in their original order.
The night started with Chapter One from the All Animals EP — also released in 2009 — with its unhurried haze of chords punctuated by harp, marimbas and tintinnabulation before the wordless chorus lends a ghostly sublayer.
IMMERSIVE
With the full orchestra the soundscape sounded even lusher than the original recording.
This was also the case for the performance of Riceboy, which was originally only had a string quartet accompaniment. Jonsi and Somers moved between electric guitars — finessed by a cello bow in Jonsi’s case — synthesisers and grand piano to re-create this immersive, magical layering of acoustics, electronics and taped animal noises and effects.
On the left hand side of the stage various ambient sounds were being created by rustled plastic bags, silver foil-covered wobble boards and space belts — plastic tubing which produces a humming note when whirled.
The shimmer of the opening number Happiness made way for Atlas Song, our first chance to hear the magic of Jonsi’s unmistakeable falsetto, the “sound” of Sigur Ros, which culminated in a miraculously held, endless note at the end of Howl.
One almost felt the audience’s blood pressure lower and their breathing relax as the 90-minute concert unfolded. As Sleeping Giant came to a close Ames left the stage followed one by one by the musicians, leaving just the creaking soundtrack of the giant’s laboured breathing.
It made for an unforgettable slow-cooked finale to a Vivid Live program that had boasted the high-powered likes of Dirty Three, The Cure and Herbie Hancock.
DETAILS
● CONCERT: Jonsi and Alex Somers
● WHERE: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall
● WHEN: Tuesday, June 11
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