* En anglais uniquement
As a solo artist,
Jónsi expands on the emotional intensity and sense of wonder he pioneered with Icelandic post-rock luminaries
Sigur Rós. On his 2010 debut
Go, he introduced his adventurous perspective on pop, while his music for films ranging from 2010's How to Train Your Dragon to 2018's Boy Erased built on his well-established flair for atmosphere. Comfortable collaborating with artists as diverse as
Troye Sivan and Swedish composer
Carl Michael von Hausswolff,
Jónsi cleverly juxtaposed these artistic extremes on 2020's
Shiver.
After spending 16 years as
Sigur Rós' singer/guitarist,
Jon Thor Birgisson first ventured away from his band to make music with his partner and frequent collaborator
Alex Somers as
Jónsi & Alex, whose July 2009 album
Riceboy Sleeps featured the Icelandic string quartet
Amiina and the Kópavogsdætur choir. Using his nickname as his solo moniker, he released his debut album
Go on his longtime label XL the following April. Produced by
Peter Katis and including contributions from
Nico Muhly,
Samuli Kosminen, and
Somers, the album's largely acoustic sound, poppier songwriting, and predominantly English-language vocals set it apart from his work with
Sigur Rós. Reaching number 20 on the U.K. Album Charts and number 23 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart,
Go was also issued in a limited-edition box set that contained the concert film Go Quiet. In November of 2010,
Jónsi released
Go Live, a CD/DVD set that included live recordings taken during the European leg of the tour on the CD and live footage of dress rehearsals shot before the tour kicked off. That December,
Jónsi contributed the track "Sticks and Stones" to the soundtrack of the hit children's movie How to Train Your Dragon (he also wrote songs and music for the film's sequels How to Train Your Dragon 2 and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World). "Sticks and Stones" led
Jónsi to work with
Cameron Crowe on the soundtrack to the director's 2011 film We Bought a Zoo.
With the 2011 release of
Sigur Rós' live audio/video project
Inní,
Jónsi's focus returned to his band for the next few years.
Sigur Rós issued 2012's
Valtari and 2013's
Kveikur, and toured extensively in 2017. The band debuted the ambient multimedia project
Liminal in 2018, while
Jónsi restarted his solo career. Along with contributing the song "Who Are You Thinking Of?" and the
Troye Sivan collaboration "Revelation" to the film Boy Erased, he also issued the demos and rarities collection Frakkur. In 2019,
Jónsi debuted
Dark Morph, his environmentally minded project with Swedish composer
Carl Michael von Hausswolff; their self-titled debut album arrived that May. That year also marked the tenth anniversary of
Riceboy Sleeps, which he and
Somers commemorated with a tour and the October release of their album
Lost & Found. In addition, he exhibited his visual artwork at a Los Angeles gallery late that year. After appearing on
Juliana Barwick's album
Healing Is a Miracle,
Jónsi returned with his second solo album
Shiver in October 2020. Featuring appearances by
Elizabeth Fraser and
Robyn as well as executive production by PC Music's
A.G. Cook, the album juxtaposed bright electronic pop with somber passages and textures. ~ Heather Phares & Tim Sendra