Sigur Rós. Formed in Reykjavík in January 1994 around Jón Þór 'Jónsi' Birgisson on vocals and guitar, Georg Hólm on bass and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson on drums, with keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson joining in 1998. The sound is built on Jónsi's cello-bowed guitar and a falsetto that floats above chamber orchestration. On Ágætis byrjun that meant a double string octet among other classical elements. Much of it is sung in Vonlenska, or Hopelandic, the band's own wordless vocal language, chosen for how syllables feel rather than what they mean. Ágætis byrjun (June 1999) is the landmark: eighth on Pitchfork's albums of the 2000s and winner of the first Shortlist Music Prize. The video for 'Svefn-g-englar' was made with Perlan, an Icelandic theatre company of performers with Down syndrome. A beautiful, singular piece of film. Kjartan Sveinsson, who left around 2013, rejoined in 2022, and in 2023 the band released Átta and toured with a 41-piece orchestra. The title is an Icelandic pun folding 'sleepwalkers' into 'sleep angels', often rendered as 'Sleepwalking Angels'.
From the notes for Episode 08 · fact-checked Oct 4, 2026.
