Jonsi: Live at the Wiltern

This is a late review for Jonsi's "Live at the Wiltern" which came out earlier this year.

Last year, Amber and I had the pleasure to see Jonsi perform in Tempe, AZ. When we heard Jonsi was going to release a live album, we were eager for it's release. Listening to Jonsi has helped me through some crazy frustrating times while living in AZ. His music captures and delivers you deep into Iceland with beautiful imagery and stunning soundscapes.

Recording a live album is always a bit tricky. The sound engineers have to get everything just right in order for the live concert sound quality to be good enough for commercial production. Even with the brilliant people running the board for Jonsi, some of the songs can be a bit jarring. Especially when Jonsi uses his vocal special effects for the songs "Around Us", "Sticks and Stones", and "Grow Till Tall". That fact is totally forgiven and forgotten with the sonically perfect progression of the songs "Icicle Sleeves" to "Kolnidur" to "Tornado". Amber and I love the lone bass drum sequence that leads into "Kolnidur". The song "Tornado" itself is worth buying the album alone.

Rumor has it that Jonsi is back working together with the rest of Sigur Ros. It'll be interesting to see which direction the band takes after Jonsi's solo project. Although, Sigur Ros has produced some brilliant songs, I have kinda enjoyed Jonsi's solo stuff more. I hope to see him do this again one day.