Sigur Rós
Icelandic band
Sigur Rós (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈsɪːɣʏrous] see-uhr-rohs) is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, frontman Jónsi's falsetto vocals, and their use of bowed guitar, Sigur Rós incorporate classical and minimal aesthetic elements. Jónsi's vocals are sung in Icelandic and non-linguistic vocalisations the band terms Vonlenska. They have released eight studio albums, and attracted critical and commercial attention with their second album Ágætis byrjun (1999).
History
1997–1998: Von and Von brigði
Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson (guitar and vocals), Georg Hólm (bass) and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson (drums) formed Sigur Rós in Reykjavík in January 1994. The band's name, which means 'Victory Rose', is taken from the name of Jónsi's younger sister, Sigurrós, born a few days before the band was formed.
Sigur Rós signed a record deal with the Icelandic Sugarcubes-owned record label Bad Taste, because they thought the falsetto vocals would appeal to teenage girls. In 1997, they released Von and in 1998 a remix collection, Von brigði. The band was joined by Kjartan Sveinsson on keyboards in 1998.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sigur Rós” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.