After the fifth studio album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós decided to take a vacation for a while. That gave frontman Jónsi the chance to create his own solowork. In 2010 his first album came out, under the in my opinion overused title ‘Go’.
By a lucky chance I was able to see him live. I had been visiting concerts by Sigur Rós for a while, but this was new. Jónsi (Jón Þór Birgisson) is well known for his strange, ethereal falsetto and bowed guitar. He didn’t disappoint, and it made me buy the album soon after.
The language of the songs is a mixture of Icelandic and a made up language by Jónsi called Vonlenska. Vonlenska is what Sigur Rós calls musical gibberish, vocals that fit the music. So if you have no idea what he is singing, you are right and he has no idea either.