Sigur Rós | Átta [Compact Disc] CD

ÁTTA marks the Icelandic group’s first album in nearly a decade, as well as their first new music since the return of multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson in 2022. Recorded at the band’s Sundlaugin studio in Iceland, the UK’s Abbey Road, and multiple US studios, the LP prominently features the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Robert Ames and brass from longtime collaborators Brassgat í bala. Paul Corley, another frequent collaborator, mixed and co-produced the album.

In a statement, frontman Jónsi said they approached the album “wanting to have minimal drums and for the music to be really sparse, floaty and beautiful. We’re getting older and more cynical so I just wanted to move us so that we felt something!”

Sveinsson added, “We wanted to allow ourselves to be a bit dramatic and go far with these arrangements. The world needs that right now. It’s hard to describe, but for me everything is always open to interpretation. People can think and feel how they want.”

ÁTTA is the proper follow-up to 2013’s Kveikur. Ahead of the album, Sigur Rós unveiled “Blóðberg,” their first new, original song in nearly a decade.