TONY CLAYTON-LEAreviews Riceboy Sleeps

JONSI & ALEX

Riceboy Sleeps EMI ****

It’s from Iceland, so it has to be a bit weird, right? Yes and no. Riceboy Sleeps is an ambient-art project, created totally with acoustic intruments – and treated with computer technology – by Jónsi Birgisson (Sigur Rós frontman) and his creative/life partner Alex Somers (from Parachutes), aided by the Kopavogsdaetur Choir and Amiina. This debut album was reportedly recorded on solar-powered laptops in a raw food commune in a remote part of Hawaii, which makes sense for someone as disengaged with average lifestyles as Birgisson (a raw food vegan). Neither as blissed- out nor as beautifully atmospheric as most Sigur Rós music, this wholly instrumental album has its own singular delights, not least being the mixture of island characteristics (Iceland’s mesmeric broodiness, Hawaii’s bright tonal shapes) and musical tropes that reference Sigur Rós (inevitably), Billie Holiday and improv jazz. www.riceboysleeps.com

Download tracks : Atlas Song, Boy 1904