Sigur Rós is an icelandic post-rock band. The name is derived from the name of lead vocalist Jónsi Birgisson's little sister Sigurrós. According to their website, it is pronounced "si-ur rose". They hail from the same creative and vibrant Icelandic music scene as múm and Amiina. They released their first ever foray into film-making with their tour documentary, Heima in late 2007.

History

Jón Þór (Jónsi) Birgisson, Georg Hólm and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson formed the group in Reykjavík, Iceland in August 1994. They soon won a record deal with a local record label, Bad Taste. In 1997, they released Von (Hope) and in 1998 a remix collection named Von brigði. The name is Icelandic wordplay: Vonbrigði means "disappointment", but Von brigði means "hope alteration". (In English, the album is sometimes known by the alternative name "Recycle Bin".)

International acclaim came with 1999's Ágætis Byrjun ("An alright start") for which the band were joined by Kjartan Sveinsson. The album's reputation slowly spread by word of mouth over the next two years. Soon many critics worldwide hailed it as one of the best albums of its time and the band was playing with Radiohead and other big names. Drummer Ágúst left the band after the recording of Ágætis Byrjun and was replaced by Orri Páll Dýrason.

After the release of Ágætis Byrjun, the band became perhaps most well known for Birgisson's signature style of playing guitar with the bow from a cello, accentuated with reverb, creating a sweeping, fluid sound that is unique for an electric guitar.

In early 2001, Sigur Rós set out to record some songs in their newly-completed álafoss swimming pool studio with their friend Steindór Andersen who is a fisherman and chairman of the Icelandic poetry society, called Iðunn. Steindór is a chanter/singer of the traditional Icelandic epic poetry form called Rímur. Only 1000 copies of the EP were printed and sold in the spring tour of 2001.

In 2002, their highly anticipated follow-up album ( ) was released. Upon release all tracks on the album were untitled, though the band later published song names on their website. Famously all of the lyrics on ( ) are sung in vonlenska ("Hopelandic"), nonsensical vocalisations which resemble the sound of the Icelandic language. It has also been said that the listener is supposed to interpret their own meanings of the lyrics which can then be written in the blank pages in the album booklet.

In October of 2003, Sigur Rós joined Radiohead in composing music for Merce Cunningham's dance piece Split Sides; Sigur Rós’s three tracks were named Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do and released in March of 2004. The three tracks (Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do) are separate endeavours, but the band intended that all three be played at the same time to form one single track. The band's 1997 debut album Von also finally found a U.S. and U.K. release in October of 2004. Their latest full-length album, Takk... (Thanks...), was released on September 13, 2005, with a legal download of their first single, Glósóli, made available on August 15. For North American fans, Sæglópur was made available for download on August 16. Hoppípolla, the second official single from Takk..., was released on November 28 alongside a new studio remake of Hafsól, a song which was previously released on the band's 1997 debut, Von.

An extended Sæglópur EP was released on July 10th in most parts of the world and on August 8th in the United States. Its original release date was May 8th, but because of the sudden demand of "Hoppípolla", especially in the UK due to its inclusion on BBC's 'Planet Earth', it was pushed back from that date. Sigur Rós recorded three new songs for the EP (Refur, Ófriður, and Kafari).

The Hvarf/Heim double album was released on November 5th 2007, comprising two separate albums. Hvarf contains reworkings of songs dating back to the bands' first album, whereas Heim contains live acoustic versions of more well known songs. The double album was an accompaniment to the film Heima.

Sigur Rós has sold over 2.5 million albums worldwide.

June, 2008:
Sigur Rós are currently touring worldwide and their newest album Með suð í eyrum, við spilum endalaust is due June 23rd.
The single Gobbledigook is available for a free download on sigurros.com.

Albums

* Von (Hope) (1997)
* Von Brigði (Hope Alteration) (1998)
* Ágætis byrjun (An Alright Start) (1999) UK peak: #52. Voted best Icelandic album of the 20th century[1]
* ( ) (2002) #51 US, two Grammy nominations, one for Best Alternative Music Album, the other for Best Recording Package
* Takk... (Thanks...) (2005) #16 UK (Gold Album), #27 US, #1 Iceland, #5 Portugal (Gold Album) #18 AUS
* Hvarf/Heim (2007) double album
* Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (2008)

Singles and EPs

* Svefn-g-englar (1999)
* Ný batterí (2000)
* Steindór Andersen / Rímur EP (2001)
* Untitled 1 (a.k.a. Vaka) (2003)
* Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do (2004)
* Hoppípolla (2005) #24 UK
* Sæglópur (2006)
* Hvarf-Heim (2007)

DVDs/Films

Heima (2007) - Documentary showing footage of the band's tour of Iceland, including live footage and interviews.