An album made for the big screen.
Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson, the Icelandic vocalist, instrumentalist, and Sigur Rós frontman, drops his fourth solo album, First Light. Comprised of 14 instrumental tracks, the ambient album can be perceived as a soundtrack to a story influenced by earth and nature. Piano chords and violin strings dance around as each track swells and seamlessly transitions into the next, taking the listener on a fluid journey from start to finish.
The listener is greeted by birds chirping on the opening track, “Flicker.” A beautiful collection of wind, strings and an arpeggiated lead slowly build and wash away together leaving a cello and violin to move into the album’s title track, “First Light.” Another standout track, “Cherry Blossom,” was released as a single back in July but does the best at showing Jónsi’s influences and skills as a composer. The song’s dynamic range of feelings, sounds and instrument pairings create emotional lows and powerful highs which can be difficult to achieve in just one 3-minute track.
All of the tracks are ambient and sound similar to one another. Jónsi may have done that on purpose, but a casual listener who clicks play may find themselves wanting to search for new music after a few songs, especially if they aren’t pairing this album with some activity.
While drums are not heard on every track, they are sporadically placed throughout to ground the listener with a punchy low end. On the tracks, “First Light,” “Clearing,” “Undercurrent,” “Willow” and “Floweret,” the drums come alive halfway through the songs, playing different rhythms and pitches like drummers in an orchestra. It draws similarities to drums found in more mainstream, emotional electronic music, where they are used to evoke feelings, not just move the song along. A good example is Odesza and their famous “Drumline.”
All in all, Jónsi’s new ambient album, First Light, is a collection of orchestral elements that work together to create a cinematic soundtrack. But like a soundtrack, it works best when paired with something else. For Jónsi’s listeners, it might be a task, workout or trip, where ambient music acts as the soundtrack for the specific activity. But if someone is listening to experience the album on its own, they may find themselves wanting to explore sooner rather than later.
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