Received an update e-mail from Sigur Rós this morning where they announced that a new album (already?) will be released worldwide on June 17 called Kveikur. Pre-orders can be placed here. More importantly, this would be their first release as a trio after Kjartan Sveinsson officially left the band (Reddit AMA, 24 Jan 2013). The first single accompanying the release is entitled "Brennistein" - and it's... unusual.
Unusual for Sigur Rós. Not that their music has not been unusual to begin with.
I'm having a mixed feeling about this release. For one, I still haven't yet fully properly 'listened' to Valtari. The thoroughly sparse, cinematic, beat-less album, though a welcoming return to Sigur Rós of old, proves to be quite a terribly slow grower to me. It's like sitting in front of a potted plant in the front yard watching the flower bloom - I'm hardly that patient for that kind of stuff.
Secondly, in the build-up to the release of Valtari, Georg Hólm did mention about the new album having "more electronic stuff than before". A number of quick listen to the album does not reveal a lot of electronic stuff. They were more orchestral, actually.
"Brennistein" however, is very electronic, from the outset. It's very metallic, brutal (to say the least), and does not share any of the operatic quality of Sigur Rós's previous works. If I am to stretch it a bit, I'd say it has a closer semblance to Von, the band's debut album. Not necessarily dark and sombre, but metallic nevertheless.
This new musical direction could work. I guess.
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