Run! Faster! As fast as you can! And smile. Please don't forget to smile. You are four years old again and discovering the world. You talk ceaselessly about what you see, hear and feel. Everything is new, all is good. And beautiful.
Jónsi - Jón Þór Birgisson - is one fourth of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. After five albums with his band, the time had come to start a solo project. Greatly in the style of the music Sigur Rós creates, but more accessible to a larger audience. Jónsi has managed to develop his own style without betraying his previous work.
I used to have a love-hate affair with this album. Some days, I thought that it had lost all the magic the early Sigur Rós days held. As if something undefinable was missing. Other days, I would think the balance between experimentation and renewing the Sigur Rós sound into something new was truly genius.
The difficulty lies in the fact that Sigur Rós has always had a very typical sound. It is hard to both grow and stay true to yourself. This is part of the criticism the band received on their last album, 'Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust', and this is exactly what Jónsi has to deal with for his solo album.
However, after listening to 'Go' over and over again, the album started to grow on me. Jónsi's still got it! His falsetto voice after all these years still makes me shiver, his somewhat funny English accent is still intriguing, and the Icelandic language is beautiful as ever.
Songs as Boy Lilikoi and Animal Arithmetic are unprecedented. They are of a childish purity and honesty that most grown-ups have lost and forgotten about. Kolnidur at first seems a bit boring, but then the strings come in. Later, the song explodes in the typical Sigur Rós way, and Jónsi makes the transition to falsetto. Very melancholic, as is Tornado, which is more carried by the voice than Kolnidur. Grow Till Tall is hypnotisingly beautiful, at the same time melancholic and hopeful. Hengilás is the perfect ending for this album. It makes you feel as if everything is fine and all is good.
This album effortlessly alternates between joy and sorrow, hope and despair, between childish dreaming and adult realism. It leaves you with the idea that in the end, all is good. And that might exactly be what Iceland needs right now. 'Go' is the perfect comfort for this beautiful country in deep trouble.
Picture taken from http://thewoundedjukebox.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/jonsi-go-cover.jpg
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