Sigur Rós by Tim Dunk
New album announcements from Sigur Rós and Bombay Bicycle Club were among last week’s biggest headlines.
Sigur Rós have release ÁTTA, their first studio album in a decade.
It swiftly followed up the unveiling of Blóðberg, itself the band’s first new song in seven years and one which officially marked the return of multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson.
With Sveinsson back in the fold, the vibe of the recording sessions which took place in Iceland, Abbey Road and various locations in the US were of, ‘just wanting to have minimal drums and for the music to be really sparse, floaty and beautiful’, according to Jónsi.
The Prodigy have announced a UK arena tour for November.
The ‘Army Of The Ants Tour’ will be supported by Soft Play, and is due to begin on November 16th in Glasgow ahead of visits to Manchester, Leeds, Brighton, Cardiff, Birmingham and London.
The arena shows will follow outdoor gigs in Ireland later this month and various European festival appearances during the summer.
Queens Of The Stone Age have announced some UK and Ireland arena dates for later this year.
Those shows will round off a November European tour which is due to visit the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Belgium before the arena stops in Manchester, London, Glasgow, Birmingham and Dublin.
The band’s In Times New Roman… LP was released on Friday.
Bombay Bicycle Club will release their new album My Big Day on October 20th.
Produced by Jack Steadman at their own studio and The Church in London, it will feature guest appearances from Damon Albarn, Jay Som, Nilüfer Yanya and Holly Humberstone.
Always a regular fixture on the summer festival circuit, the band have an appearance at Mad Cool coming up next month and will play a series of UK instore gigs during October before a full tour of Europe in November.
Sliver of Ice is the latest track to preview ANOHNI And The Johnsons‘ forthcoming My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross LP, the follow-up to 2016’s HOPELESSNESS.
“A friend of mine expressed to me in the final months of his life that the simplest sensations had begun to feel almost rapturous,” ANOHNI said.
“A carer had placed a shard of ice on his tongue one day and it was such a sweet and unbelievable feeling that it caused him to weep with gratitude. He was a hardcore kind of guy and these moments were transforming the way he was seeing things. I wrote Sliver Of Ice remembering those words of his.”
Georgia has shared her latest Euphoric single Give It Up For Love.
It’s out with a video directed by Mathy & Fran; “We wanted to explore the song’s themes of caution and bravery, through the act of diving,” they said.
“Abandoning stability to leap into the unknown, diving feels like both descending and soaring, and the perfect analogy for Give It Up For Love. Creating a feeling of infinite free-fall for the choruses, our goal was to show ‘giving up’ as something that leaves you weightless, rather than broken. The sunrise colour worlds are a nod to the Californian skies where Georgia recorded the track.”
