Feb 20: S is for Sigur Rós

An alphabet of bands and artists as a series for the next 26 days. These were selected by the Spotify algorithm.

Sigur Rós are one of my favourite bands, and I have seen them play live as often as I can, even before 2012 when they first became particularly prominent by composing music used in a David Attenborough series - even if you don't think you know it, you will have heard it. I went to see them play last year and the person next to me said "I only know one song" - and I knew which one they meant.

Here's the song that introduced them to many:

The most recent concert was with an orchestra down at the Royal Albert Hall.

Here's one of my favourite tracks, as recorded at Abbey Road Studios: Ára Bátur 

The track hadn't been played live before.

And then in October - they played it...

There are plenty of videos recorded by those who were present at the concert - see if you can find your favourite.

Vonlenska (Hopelandic) is the non-literal language that forms the unintelligible lyrics sung by the band on some songs, in particular by Jónsi. It is also commonly known by the English translation of its name, Hopelandic.
It takes its name from "Von", a song on Sigur Rós's debut album Von where it was first used. However, not all Sigur Rós songs are in Hopelandic; many are sung in Icelandic.

Vonlenska has no fixed syntax and differs from constructed languages that can be used for communication. It focuses entirely on the sounds of language; it lacks grammar, meaning, and even distinct words. Instead, it consists of emotive non-lexical vocables and phonemes; in effect,
Vonlenska uses the melodic and rhythmic elements of singing without the conceptual content of language. In this way, it is similar to the use of scat singing in vocal jazz.

The band's website describes it as "a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music" it is similar in concept to the 'nonsense' language often used by Cocteau Twins singer Elizabeth Fraser in the 1980s and 1990s or by Icelandic singer Björk.

It is worth exploring all their discography.

In October 2025, I saw them performing with the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Discography: AI generated

What 'S' comes up in your algorithm?