Jónsi and Alex Stretch Themselves Too Thin
Riceboy Sleeps fails to depart from members' main projects.
Jonsi & Alex
Riceboy Sleeps
Released on Jul 21, 2009
One of my favorite things about being a dedicated music listener is being able to hear side projects of musicians that I have come to know and love over the years. It goes without say, then, that I was excited to hear the album from the teaming up Sigur Rós front man Jón Þór Birgisson (“Jónsi”) and his boyfriend Alex Somers from Parachute Band. The two have had a lengthy artistic relationship with Alex providing the album art for Sigur Rós, Parachute Band opening for the band on tour, and the two releasing a book of photography together. It was only a matter of time before the two joined forces in their own project, simply called Jónsi and Alex. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from their debut album Riceboy Sleeps, but I wasn't expecting a boring and dulled down version of Sigur Rós. Unfortunately, that's what I got.
Now, I know as well as you do that both Sigur Rós and Parachute Band have some mighty big shoes to fill. The problem with Jónsi and Alex is that it tries to be a two man continuation of the same thought of these two bands instead of being a departure from them. Some tracks sound like unfinished or b-sided Sigur Rós songs ("Boy 1904"), some are in desperate in need of Alex's lyrics ("Daníell in the Sea"), and some just drone on for what seems like an eternity ("Indian Summer"). Riceboy Sleeps is not without a few keepers, though. It opens up with a great track called "Happiness" which spotlights an incredible string arrangement. The fourth track "Stokkseyri" starts off with a lot of interesting movement, but falls into the trap of ending with a drone note with some ambient chords around it for a few minutes like the previous track did as well. Parts of the album require active listening, but continually drift in and out of ambient music.
Overall, though, Riceboy
Sleeps is a pretty good album in and of itself. It will hold
its own stacked up against other albums that are coming out because
it is a collaboration of two extremely talented musicians. The
album does work and is still worth looking into if you are familiar
with their work, just don’t expect anything new.
It just seemed that the entire idea of Jónsi and Alex could have been explored with either Sigur Rós or Parachute Band, and more effectively. If you are going to do a side project, give me an adventurous departure like The Postal Service, Gorillaz, or The Breeders, not a watered down version the thing that everyone already knows you for.
High Point
The melodies, when present, are very well written and powerful while remaining simple. The orchestrations, like in “Happiness” are arranged perfectly.
Low Point
No new ideas were explored and many of the songs seem like unfinished thoughts that end in a drawn out drone.
Posted by Scott Potter on Jul 21, 2009 @ 7:00 am
