Jonsi - Go Live (DVD/CD)

When Sigur Ros' falsettoed frontman Jonsi stepped out with his solo album Go earlier this year, few could have imagined the impact that his mind-blowing, symphonic art-pop would have. Music we described as "shimmering odes to joy that only a basket case could fail to find uplifting" heralded a vibrant new level of epic and sumptuous productions that resonated as intimate hymns blown up to widescreen technicolor proportions. Regally mounted but never pompous and with a welcome touch of animated whimsy, the songs of Go became not only a soundtrack to a grand surrealist soundscape but, as presented in a Jonsi's dazzling live show -- captured in a new full-length, artfully shot DVD and CD package Go Live (November 30) -- a feast for the senses. As Spin put it, this is "one big bucolic electro-folk fairy-tale rave party."

Not your typical stripped indie rock performance, Go Live ramps up as elaborate stage and light production, fanciful and fantastic, with projected visuals and a mind-numbing whirlwind of colorful, strobe-lit fury. The music, including five non-Go songs, soars and swoops from intimate to intense crescendos of orchestrated grandeur, Jonsi's high-pitched vocals reaching to the heavens or dropping to a whispered sigh in the quieter passages. The DVD and CD, each running about 75 minutes, are two separate performances: the video shot at the outset of the tour for a small audience in London, the CD recorded at a September show in Europe. As performance editions go, Go Live is one of the best we've seen in a while, staggering in both creative concept and execution. Preview video after the jump. For now, Go Live is available for preorder only from the Jonsi website.

Myspace  Artist Site

Jonsi - "Sinking Friendships" (Live version)

Jonsi - "Grow Till Tall" (from Go)

‘go live’ dvd tracklist:

1. hengilás
2. icicle sleeves
3. kolniður
4. tornado
5. sinking friendships
6. go do
7. boy lilikoi
8. new piano song
9. around us
10. volume pedal song
11. grow till tall

filmed live at 3 mills studios, london, 26 march 2010.

‘go live’ cd tracklist:

1. stars in still water *
2. hengilás
3. icicle sleeves
4. kolniður
5. tornado
6. sinking friendships
7. saint naive
8. go do
9. boy lilikoi
10. animal arithmetic
11. new piano song *
12. around us
13. sticks & stones *
14. grow till tall

recorded live at ancienne belgique, belgium, 29 may 2010, except * recorded at the dome, brighton, 14 september 2010.

Photo Credit: Kirstie Shanley