Review Summary: Good to go
Perhaps you know a few people like this: they are awake day to day, are asleep night to night, but never make a move to go beyond their comfort zones to experience something better for themselves. It’s a docile lifestyle, and though there may not be anything particularly wrong with living in habit - as opposed to living in preparation for a better future - people looking on from the outside, or maybe even the individuals in question, might wonder what new plateau of personal achievement could be reached for them; what better lives could be lived, if only they would just try and
go for it.
The subject of such thoughts is fine and dandy, though a little naïve and uninformed of a particular person or persons’ circumstances in many cases, but it makes up the body and theme that Jonsi Birgissin has delivered in solo effort
Go. Happiness and self-improvement reign supreme over a sound that is very much derived from the work of the Icelandic band that Jonsi is most often associated with, Sigur Ros - most notably their
Með suð i eyrum við spilum endalaust album. He descends upon ears as if stirring a pot of honey over a crackling fire, pouring the contents therein into a cup for you to drink: the product is sweet, sticky, and so, so
good.
If second single “Go Do” solicits attention by way of its splendor, catchiness, and aggregate of a god-hammer-like drum, various wood-wind instruments, and a flurry of rising strings, then “Boy Lilikoi” and “Animal Arithmetic” are merely the second and third points of the Icelandic performer’s argument for making stadium-size pop indulgence the main foundation for his new solo album. “Animal” climaxes with enough melodic punch via joyous, childlike lyrics and a full-frontal tempo speed to send even the most dictionary-cased hipster/metalhead into a sing-along-like frantic state: ‘
I see you in the trees / You’re colourful / I see you in the breeze / You’re spiritful.’ Jonsi is clearly swinging for the fences here, and it looks like he’s set to hit a homerun.
Those knowledgeable of Sigur Ros’ past should know what to expect once morose yet hopeful ballads “Tornado”, “Kolnidur”, and “Hengilalus” roll across the screens of media players. The latter of the three gives a nod to
Takk…’s “Heysatan”, balancing the thin line between plagiarism and originality solely by removing the chord chimes that characterize that memorable closer. And even if “Grow Till Tall” borrows a little too much from the pacing and melody of
Takk…’s “Svo Hljott”, the climax here is the pinnacle, sublime moment of
Go, extending its ambiance-tinged fingers into the confines of your person and taking your breath away. Exaggeration, you say? Sure, but it’s such a fantastic song and displays how powerful Jonsi’s falsetto and awkward English combination really is when put to record.
The best way to describe the niche that Jonsi has placed himself into on
Go is to envision the sapping of
Takk…’s and
Með suð i eyrum við spilum endalaust’s more melodic, conventional tactics at post-rock - when compared to Sigur Ros’ early work - and to place this with a head-on mainstream agenda, not to mention coupling it with enough happiness to put you into a state of cardiac arrest. For this reason,
Go’s combination of falsetto vocals, production wizardry, and whimsical array of instruments is set to appeal to the largest number of people possible, setting up a scenario where an artist that would initially be considered abstract, unapproachable, and just plain
weird by the general public is likely to be embraced with cult-like worship, and even to a degree, fits of joy. The naïve nature, the sugary contents, and the message that wants us to reach for the greatest life we can certainly does not fall on deaf ears. This is
Go, and this is
good.
