Pitchfork

When Pitchfork spoke to Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Þór Birgisson earlier this month, the conversation ended somewhat abruptly. Sure, Birgisson had plenty to say before that point. And while it's useless to speculate, one wonders if, had the discourse continued, he might have elaborated on, say, this new LP they're preparing.

No matter, really. Now, thanks to a report today in Icelandic newspaper Fréttablaðið (translated to English via email by a representative of the paper), we have the initial details on the next Sigur Rós record and follow-up to 2005's Takk. Gotta love the interwebs, erasing oceans with a few clicks and scrolls.

Sigur Rós drummer Orri Páll Dýrason spoke to the paper and revealed that the Icelandic quartet will shack up with veteran producer Mark "Flood" Ellis (U2, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey, and so many others) next week to do some preliminary work on the record.

"We're gonna try working with him for two weeks and see where it takes us," said Dýrason.

Where they'll shack up might raise a few eyebrows, as it won't be the band's own beloved swimming pool-turned-studio, Sundlaugin. Instead, they've opted for a more urban locale. "We want to take a break from Sundlaugin, distance [ourselves] a bit," Dýrason explained. "We will be renting a house in downtown Reykjavík and record[ing] the album there."

These guys aren't always keen to discuss their art-- "[It's like] you're erasing the magic of the music or something by talking too much about it," as Birgisson put it last week-- and Dýrason didn't really let on much to Fréttablaðið either. "We really don't know what this new album is going to be like," he said. "Right now we only have ideas for new songs and they always change when we start recording." So, basically, it will probably sound like the other ones. Which is more than fine with us.

As a reminder, live DVD Heima checks in Stateside on November 20 (it's available now elsewhere), while the rarities/acoustic collection Hvarf/Heim is out now all over the place thanks to XL. Heima's screening in quite a few places too; find out where by clicking here.