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As Sigur Rós are currently wrapping up their sixth studio, the band’s singer/guitarist/most recognizable face Jónsi (aka Jón Þór Birgisson) has chosen to unveil his side-project with boyfriend Alex Somers to a wider audience.

The couple have spent the last six years collaborating on small scale works involving both visual pieces and music, which includes various exhibitions, a limited edition picture book and a couple of singles. Finally, on July 21st, Jónsi & Alex (their official name) will release their debut album, Riceboy Sleeps.

Of course, with these types of offshoots, expectations will be for something akin to the spatial and expansive beauty of Sigur Rós and Riceboy Sleeps arguably supplies even more of a natural sound. Inviting regular Sigur Rós collaborators and fellow Icelandic musicians Amiina and the Kópavogsdætur Choir, the album was made utilizing only acoustic instruments and solar-powered laptops in a “raw food commune in some far corner of Hawaii.”

What catch most people off-guard, is the more ambient, instrumental lean of the music. While Sigur Rós is usually recognized for Jónsi’s soaring falsetto that is often sung in the made-up language of Hopelandic, the pair eschew vocals on the majority of the album, save for standout “Boy 1904,” a haunting bit of Eno-like lullaby featuring the choral pipes of the last known castrato ever recorded.

With Riceboy Sleeps, Jónsi & Alex have conjured up a stunningly organic ambient recording full of incidental field recordings and demonstrative orchestrations that is as powerful as it is fragile.

Listen to it Here

Artist: Jónsi & Alex
Album:Riceboy Sleeps
Release Date: July 21, 2009
Label: XL Recordings
Genre: Indie Pop/Rock
Author: Cam Lindsay

Track Listing:

1. Happiness
2. Atlas Song
3. Indian Summer
4. Stokkseyri
5. Boy 1904
6. All The Big Trees
7. Daniell In The Sea
8. Howl
9. Sleeping Giant