Jónsi: Go

Label: XL Recordings

Smaller. For some reason that’s the word that comes to mind when trying to contextualize how Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson‘s first solo album compares to his main band’s frequently epic stabs at epic post-pop epicness. By reining in some of those impulses, Jónsi is free to simply be pretty throughout Go, a chiming, charming nine-song effort filled with energy and light. Of course, Go is really no more a solo work than was Riceboy Sleeps, Jónsi’s 2009 collab with partner Alex Somers (who plays and coproduces here): neoclassical wunderkind Nico Muhly, no stranger to the Icelandic set, plays keyboards and arranged the tasteful string, brass and woodwind instrumentation. So if Go seems to reflect much more earthly states than what Sigur Rós is best known for, the album’s lush pleasures (check out the sumptuous “Kolnidur”) will come as little surprise to longtime fans. (Vinyl includes digital download.) (E. Bruntlett)