Jónsi | |
|---|---|
_(27836688703).jpg) Jónsi at the Citadel Festival,Victoria Park, London, 2016 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Jón Þór Birgisson (1975-04-23)23 April 1975 (age 50) |
| Origin | Reykjavík, Iceland |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Member of | Sigur Rós |
| Website | jonsi |
Jón Þór "Jónsi"Birgisson (pronounced[ˈjouːnˈθouːrˈpɪrcɪsɔn,ˈjounsɪ]ⓘ; born 23 April 1975) is an Icelandic musician; he is the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist for the Icelandicpost-rock bandSigur Rós. He is known for his use of a cellobow on guitar and hisfalsetto[1] orcountertenor[2] voice.
Jónsi released his debut solo albumGo on 5 April 2010. His second album,Shiver, was released on 2 October 2020. He released his third albumObsidian a year later in conjunction with an art exhibition of the same name. He has also collaborated with his ex-partnerAlex Somers and has contributed to the scores for the filmsHow to Train Your Dragon andWe Bought a Zoo.
When Jónsi was 13 years old, he learned his first song on guitar, "Wrathchild" byIron Maiden. Iron Maiden remains one of his favorite bands to this day.[3] In 1995, Jónsi fronted a band called Bee Spiders, under thealias 'Jonny B'. He woresunglasses on stage throughout their concerts. Bee Spiders received the 'most interesting band' award in 1995 in a contest for unknown bands calledMúsíktilraunir (Music Experimentations). The band played long rock songs and was compared toThe Smashing Pumpkins.[3] Jónsi also fronted agrunge band called Stoned around 1992–1993. He also uses the aliasFrakkur to release his solo material, e.g., the contribution toKitchen Motors Family Album, which marked the first release under this name.
Since 1994, Jónsi has been the singer and guitarist forSigur Rós. To date, they have released eight studio albums.
Aside from his many years with Sigur Rós, Jónsi has collaborated with his ex-partnerAlex Somers[4] under themonikerJónsi & Alex, releasing their albumRiceboy Sleeps in 2009. In April 2010, Jónsi released his first solo album,Go, and began a multi-nation tour to promote the album from March through September across North America and Europe.
Jónsi's song "Around Us" was used for the American promotional trailer forStudio Ghibli's filmThe Secret World of Arriety and was also included inFIFA 11, the soundtrack byEA Sports.
His song "Tornado" was featured in Henry Alex Rubin's 2012 filmDisconnect.
Jónsi also wrote the score for the 2012Cameron Crowe filmWe Bought a Zoo.
"Boy Lilikoi" and instrumental versions of "Tornado", "Sinking Friendships", and "Around Us" were all included in the 2011 documentaryThis Is What Love in Action Looks Like.
Jónsi's song "Grow Till Tall" was used by theBluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps in their 2017 competitive programJagged Line. It was also featured in the trailer for the third installment of theDivergent series,Allegiant.
In 2018, Jonsi contributed an original song titled "Who Are You Thinking Of?" to the soundtrack of the feature filmBoy Erased. He collaborated withTroye Sivan on the song "Revelation", also included on the soundtrack.
Jonsi is credited for music used in the 2025 filmRental Family.[5]
Jónsi recorded "Sticks and Stones" for the score to the 2010 filmHow to Train Your Dragon,[6] for whichDreamWorks Animation released a music video on 17 December 2010.[7] His song "Tornado" was featured in the arena show adaptation of this film. In 2014, Jónsi co-wrote the song "Where No One Goes" for the sequel,How to Train Your Dragon 2, with the film's music composerJohn Powell. He also co-wrote the melody for "For the Dancing and Dreaming". Jónsi additionally wrote a rough demo (entitled "Mama's Boy") for the film, which was eventually replaced by "Flying with Mother". He wrote and performed the song "Together from Afar" for the final installment of the franchise,How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, in which he also provided the vocals for the track "The Hidden World".
In 2019, it was announced that Jónsi and Swedish composerCarl Michael von Hausswolff had formed a new musical collaboration they were calling Dark Morph, and on 10 May 2019, they released their first album, also titledDark Morph. The project "promises to explore the ramifications of ongoing environmental collapse to the oceans and its inhabitants."[8] The album consists mainly of ambient sounds, often simulating the sounds of animals and nature, and contains very few actual melodies.
Jónsi and his ex-partnerAlex Somers completed their first album together,Riceboy Sleeps, under the nameJónsi & Alex. The instrumental album was recorded in Iceland, played solely on acoustic instruments, and mixed in Hawaii. The album features appearances by the Icelandic string quartetAmiina and the Kópavogsdætur choir.[9]
The 68-minute album includes nine tracks and was released on 20 July 2009 onParlophone Records.[10]
A post that appeared on Jónsi's official site on 26 May 2009 stated that the artist was working on a solo album that would feature predominantly acoustic music and string arrangements from classical composerNico Muhly. The album was set to be produced byPeter Katis (Interpol,The National,Tokyo Police Club).[11]
On 4 December 2009, a free MP3 of the track "Boy Lilikoi" was made available to mailing-list subscribers through the website. The MP3 announced the title of the album to beGo and gave a worldwide release date of "the week of 5 April 2010" throughParlophone andXL Recordings.
On 5 April 2010, as promised, the album was released in Iceland and the United Kingdom, with a worldwide release date of the following day. The album was sung mainly in English, marking a change from the majority of Jónsi's previous work, which was sung mainly in Icelandic andVonlenska. The album charted at No. 20 on the UK album charts on 12 April 2010[12] and reached No. 23 on theBillboard 200.
TheGo limited-edition box set also includedGo Quiet, a 45-minute film, directed byDean DeBlois (director of the Sigur Rós concert filmHeima), that features all nine songs from the album performed acoustically at home in Reykjavík, over New Year 2010.
Jónsi went on tour with his albumGo on 6 April 2010. The tour did not include any venues within Jónsi's home country of Iceland. The artist's touring band included Alex Somers on guitar, sound effects, and keyboards; Thorvaldur Thór Thorvaldsson on drums;Ólafur Björn Ólafsson on keyboards; andÚlfur Hansson on bass andmonome.[13]
Jónsi went a decade without releasing any solo material. On 3 April 2020, Jónsi took to Instagram to announce that he was releasing music later that month,[14] which would be the lead single, "Exhale", to his second studio album,Shiver, with an accompanying music video directed by Jónsi andGiovanni Ribisi.[15]
The album was made in collaboration with English music producer, singer and head of record labelPC Music,A. G. Cook. Jónsi had no expectation for his and Cook's initial meeting, but the more they talked, the more he realized they might be perfect collaborators.[16]
Jónsi released another single, "Swill", for the album on 24 June 2020, with an accompanying music video directed by Barnaby Roper.[17]
Jónsi makes a guest appearance under the alias 'Frakkur' on track 13, "Skyscraper Heart", onHi-Camp Meets Lo-Fi – Explosion Picture Score by Dip (1999)
Jónsi provides vocal material on three collaborations with TheHafler Trio:
Exactly As I Say (2004 CD; a separate limited edition of 111 copies also exists containing DVD and 5.1 surround sound)
Exactly As I Am (2005 Double CD)
Exactly As I Do (2005 Double CD)
Jónsi makes a guest appearance onTiësto's track "Kaleidoscope"[18] on hisalbum of the same name, which was released on 6 October 2009.
Jónsi appears on the albumIn a Safe Place byThe Album Leaf, on the song "Over the Pond".
In 2018, Jónsi collaborated withTroye Sivan on the song "Revelation" from theBoy Erased soundtrack.[19]
Jónsi's first language isIcelandic. He also speaks English, according to the official Sigur Rós website:[20]
On the first three Sigur Rós albums (Von, Von Brigði, Ágætis Byrjun), Jónsi sang most songs in Icelandic but two of them ("Von" and "Olsen Olsen") were sung in 'Hopelandic'. All of the vocals on ( ) are in Hopelandic. Hopelandic (Vonlenska in Icelandic) is the 'invented language' in which Jónsi sings before lyrics are written to the vocals. It is not an actual language by definition (no vocabulary, grammar, etc.), but rather a form of gibberish vocals that fit to the music and act as another instrument. Jónsi likens it to what singers sometimes do when they've decided on the melody, but haven't written the lyrics yet. Many languages were considered to be used on ( ), including English, but they decided on Hopelandic. Hopelandic (Vonlenska) got its name (from a journalist, not Jónsi himself) from the first song which Jónsi sang on, "Hope" (Von).[21]
Like a few other players of thebowed guitar, Jónsi plays mainly variations of theLes Paul.[22] He also plays Ibanez Les Paul copies, model PF200. The first Ibanez used to be his main instrument during the Bee Spiders era all throughÁgætis Byrjun. It was largely refinished and decorated (as can be seen inÁgúst Jakobsson's documentaryPopp í Reykjavík[23]). That particular instrument got stolen and broken but was on display in theReykjavík Art Museum in the summer of 2003.[24] During the recordings ofTakk..., Jónsi bought another PF200 to replace the Les Paul. Since the summer of 2006, Jónsi has been using a guitar that was made on the road by his then guitar tech Dan Johnson. The guitar is usually referred to as "The Bird", after the band's bird designs seen on previous album artwork that adorn the neck and frets of the guitar. "The Bird" is based on the body of the Ibanez PF200. The artist has also been seen playing a variety of other instruments such as the piano, acoustic guitar, electric bass guitar, harmonium, mellotron, baritone ukulele, and the banjo.
In 2003, he was escorted off the premises while protesting againstKárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant in Iceland.[25]
Jónsi is a vegetarian. He states that he "didn't go vegetarian because of the animals" but became gradually more concerned for their welfare.[26] Jónsi elaborated that he would find it difficult to date someone who eats meat, saying "I just love animals and I do not want to kill them, cook them or eat them so it'd be hard for me to watch anyone do that."[26] He briefly followed araw food diet, although he no longer practices this as he felt it hindered his social life and he was "getting antisocial" when on tour.[27]
Alongside his visual art collaboration withAlex Somers, he has also exhibited his own artwork. Jónsi has exhibited at the Los Angeles branch ofTanya Bonakdar Gallery in late 2019 and again in 2023, as well as their New York branch in 2021.[28][29][30]
He also exhibited a large-scale experiential artwork titledFLÓÐ at theNational Nordic Museum in early 2023.[31]Jónsi: Hrafntinna (Obsidian) was exhibited at theArt Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Toronto in 2022 as well as theMuseum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, Australia in 2023.[32][33]
Jónsi founded Fischersund, a perfumery and art collective with his sisters Inga, Lilja and Sigurros in 2017, and together they launched their debut exhibitionFaux Flora, a multi-sensory experience at the National Nordic Museum in 2024 through to 2025.[34]
Jónsi isopenlygay.[35][36] He began a relationship with fellow musicianAlex Somers in 2003 and released an art collaboration with him. They announced their separation in 2019, after having been together for 16 years and remain close friends.[37]
He is blind in his right eye from birth as a result of a broken optic nerve from the brain.[35][36]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [38] | BEL [39] | FRA [40] | GER [41] | ITA [39] | NLD [39] | SWE [39] | SWI [39] | UK [42] | US [43] | ||
| Go |
| 64 | 6 | 86 | 100 | 74 | 84 | 35 | 31 | 20 | 23 |
| Shiver |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 88 | — | — |
| Obsidian |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| First Light |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Riceboy Sleeps |
|
| Lost & Found |
|
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Dark Morph |
|
| Dark Morph II |
|
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Sounds of Fischer Vol. 1 (withSin Fang,Alex Somers and Kjartan Holm) |
|
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| We Bought a Zoo |
|
| Manhattan (withAlex Somers,Jeff Russo andZoë Keating) |
|
| Tom Clancy's Without Remorse |
|
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Go Live |
|
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2000 - 2004 (as Frakkur) |
|
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Go Quiet |
|
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| All Animals (asJónsi & Alex withAlex Somers) |
|
| Go Do |
|
| Go Out |
|
| 11.16/12.21.2019 |
|
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Go Do" | 2010 | Go |
| "Animal Arithmetic" | ||
| "Revelation" (withTroye Sivan) | 2018 | Boy Erased |
| "TB2" (as Frakkur) | 2000 - 2004 | |
| "Together From Afar" | 2019 | How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World |
| "Dark Wave" (as Dark Morph withCarl Michael von Hausswolff) | 2020 | Dark Morph II |
| "Exhale" | Shiver | |
| "Swill" | ||
| "Evol Lamina" (withGyða Valtýsdóttir) | Epicycle II | |
| "Cannibal" (featuringElizabeth Fraser) | Shiver | |
| "Cul de sac" (withTrayer Tryon andAlex Somers featuringMoses Sumney,Julianna Barwick and Nicole Miglis) | New Forever | |
| "Salt Licorice" (featuringRobyn) | Shiver | |
| "Mold" | 2021 | |
| "Beitilyng" (withSin Fang,Alex Somers and Kjartan Holm) | 2022 | Sounds of Fischer Vol. 1 |
| "Birki" (withSin Fang,Alex Somers and Kjartan Holm) | ||
| "Bakgarðar" (with Kjartan Holm andSin Fang) | Non-album single |
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Kaleidoscope" (Tiësto featuring Jónsi) | 2009 | Kaleidoscope |
| "Candyland" (Sin Fang featuring Jónsi) | 2016 | Spaceland |
| "In Light" (Julianna Barwick featuring Jónsi) | 2020 | Healing Is a Miracle |
| "Carry On" (Mykki Blanco featuring Jónsi) | 2022 | Stay Close To Music |
| "LOOK AT YOU" (Skrillex featuring Jónsi) | 2025 | Fuck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol but Ur Not!! <3 |
| Song | Artist | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Skyscraper Heart"(credited as 'Frakkur') | Dip | 1999 | Hi-Camp Meets Lo-Fi: Explosion Picture Score |
| "Over the Pond"(uncredited vocals) | The Album Leaf | 2004 | In a Safe Place |
| "Ammælisstrákur"(credited as 'Frakkur') | Various | 2006 | Kitchen Motors Family Album |
| "Kaleidoscope" | Tiësto | 2009 | Kaleidoscope |
| "Sticks & Stones" | Various | 2010 | How to Train Your Dragon: Music from the Motion Picture |
| "Where No One Goes" | Various | 2014 | How to Train Your Dragon 2 |
| "For the Dancing and Dreaming" (melody-writer) | Various | 2014 | How to Train Your Dragon 2 |
| "Simple Gifts" | Danny Elfman | 2017 | The Circle (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
| "Revelation" (withTroye Sivan) | Daniel Bensi | 2018 | Boy Erased (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
| "Who Are You Thinking Of?" | Daniel Bensi | 2018 | Boy Erased (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
| "The Hidden World" "Together from Afar"[44][non-primary source needed] | Various | 2019 | How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World |
| "One Life" (Mark Ronson featuringDiana Gordon and Jónsi) | Mark Ronson | 2021 | Watch the Sound (Original Soundtrack) |
| "Oil + Honey"(co-production and additional vocals) | Hyd | 2022 | Clearing |
| International | |
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