''Go'' is the debut studio album by Icelandic musician

Jónsi Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson (; born 23 April 1975) is an Icelandic musician; he is the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is known for his use of a cello bow on guitar and his falsetto or count ...

, frontman of the

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

band

Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jónsi, Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal soun ...

. The album was released on 5 April 2010, through

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

, as reported by a downloadable track from the official site. The fourth track of the album, "Boy Lilikoi", was released for free from Jónsi's website, available to those subscribing to the website's mailing list. The album features predominantly acoustic music and string arrangements from composer

Nico Muhly Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestra ...

. The album was co-produced by

Alex Somers Alex Somers (born March 7, 1984) is an American visual artist and musician from Baltimore, Maryland, who attended Berklee College of Music and Listaháskóli Íslands. Somers lives and works in Los Angeles. Previously he ran a recording studio ...

Peter Katis Peter Katis is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, audio engineer, mixer, and musician. Katis is best known for working with alternative and indie rock bands. He works primarily out of his own residential studio, Tarquin Studios, ...

and Jónsi himself, during summer 2009, in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

and

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. A worldwide tour across North America and Europe also took place upon the album's release from April–May 2010, featuring Jónsi performing songs from the album and a "unique, cinematic" performance stage designed by

59 Productions Fifty-Nine Productions (59 Productions) is a design studio with offices located in London and New York City. Origins 59 Productions was founded in Edinburgh by Leo Warner (shortly joined by co-founder Mark Grimmer). Their early public projec ...

. "Kolniður" was featured at the end of the ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral ...

'' sixth-season episode "

Lauren Lauren is mostly a feminine given name. The name's meaning may be "laurel tree", "sweet of honor", or "wisdom". It is derived from the French name Laurence, a feminine version of Laurent, which is in turn derived from the Roman surname Laurent ...

" and in a trailer for ''

Real Steel ''Real Steel'' is a 2011 American science fiction sports film starring Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo and co-produced and directed by Shawn Levy for DreamWorks Pictures. The film is based on the short story "Steel", written by Richard Mathes ...

''. It also featured at the end of the first-season finale of the reality series ''

Flying Wild Alaska ''Flying Wild Alaska'' is a documentary television series that aired on Discovery Channel in 2011 and 2012. The show features the Tweto family from Unalakleet, Alaska who run the Alaska airline Era Alaska. They operate the hub operations fr ...

''. "Around Us" was included on the ''

FIFA 11 ''FIFA 11'', titled ''FIFA Soccer 11'' in North America, is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts worldwide under the EA Sports label. It was released on 28 September 2010 in North America, 30 Se ...

'' and ''

FIFA 23 ''FIFA 23'' is a football video game published by EA Sports. It is the 30th and final installment in the ''FIFA'' series that is developed by EA Sports, and released worldwide on 30 September 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation ...

'' soundtrack and the trailer for the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

dub of '' The Secret World of Arrietty''. "Tornado" was featured in the closing scene and end credits of the film '' Disconnect''.

Reception

''Go'' has received mostly positive reviews from critics, scoring a 76/100 on the music review aggregator website Metacritic. Most reviews praise Muhly's precise arrangements and Jónsi's flighty vocals, while a few lukewarm reviews discuss the album's lack of cohesion. The album has reached number twenty on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, number twenty-three on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the United States, number six on the Belgian (

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

)

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created in 1995 on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organiz ...

chart, number thirty-one on the Swiss Albums Top 100, number seventy-four on the Italian Music Chart and number eighty-four on the Dutch

Mega Album Top 100 The Dutch Album Top 100 or Album Top 100 is a weekly hit list of music albums, compiled by Dutch Charts. It shows the 100 best-selling music albums of the moment in the Netherlands. The list has passed through various name changes and has expanded ...

Track listing

# " Go Do" – 4:41 # " Animal Arithmetic" – 3:24 # "Tornado" – 4:15 # "Boy Lilikoi" – 4:30 # "Sinking Friendships" – 4:42 # "Kolniður" – 3:56 # "Around Us" – 5:18 # "Grow till Tall" – 5:21 # "Hengilás" – 4:15 Japanese bonus tracks #

"Sinking Friendships" (acoustic) – 4:00 # "Tornado" (acoustic) – 3:57

Personnel

Jón Þór Birgisson Jón is an Old Norse common name still widely used in Iceland and the Faroes. According to Icelandic custom, people named Jón are generally referred to by first and middle names and those without a middle name are referred to with both first nam ...

– vocals, sampler, guitar, piano, ukulele,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

Samuli Kosminen Edea is a Finnish musical group. The Edea's song lyrics are written in an older form of the Finnish language and speak of old traditions as well. The mysterious runic symbols inscribed on the bows of Viking boats, door posts, drinking vessels, and ...

– drums, percussion,

kalimba Mbira ( ; ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and ...

, harp *

– piano,

celesta The celesta () or celeste (), also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music ...

, glockenspiel, string arrangement,

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

arrangement, wind arrangement *

– guitar, piano, celesta, glockenspiel, sampler

Additional musicians

* Hideaki Aomori –

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

* Edward Burns –

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

* Christa Robinson –

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn (mainly North America), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially ...

* Alexandra Sopp – flutes * William Lang –

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

* David Nelson – trombone * David Byrd-Marrow, Kate Sheeran – French horn * Caleb Burhans, Courtney Orlando – violin *

Nadia Sirota Nadia Sirota (born in New York City, New York) is an American viola player. Her father is Robert Sirota, a composer and Conducting, conductor. Life and career Sirota is best known for her singular sound and expressive execution, coaxing solo ...

, John Pickford Richards –

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

* Clarice Jenson, Brian Snow – cello * Logan Coale – double bass

Technical

* Jón Þór Birgisson – writer, producer * Alex Somers – producer *

– producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Greg Giorgio – assistant engineer

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Go (Jonsi Album) 2010 debut albums Jónsi albums Post-rock albums by Icelandic artists