Sigur Ros Information
Named in part after a sister of one of the band members, Reykjavik, Iceland's Sigur Rós ("Victory Rose") was created by guitarist and vocalist Jon Thor Birgisson, bassist Georg Holm, and drummer Agust. Shaped while each of the members were teenagers in the beginning of 1994, the trio's first recorded song got them a deal with Iceland's Bad Taste label. Their sprawling debut LP, Von (Hope), was out in 1997, followed the next year by a set of remixes from that album, Recycle Bin. Kjartan Sveinsson got together with the band on keyboards and the band recorded 1999's strings-heavy Ágætis Byrjun (Good Start), earning them many accolades in their homeland and getting platinum status in sales. Agust then departed and was rapidly replaced by Orri Pall Dyrason. "Svefn-G-Englar," their first release to be distributed outside of their native country, was hailed as NME's Single of the Week during September of 1999, initiating a press hype steamroller in the U.K. and -- to a lesser degree in the U.S. The "Ný Battery" single was issued in early 2000, the band's breakout year. British independent Fat Cat started distributing the band, stretching their reach beyond Icelanders and rabid journalists. April dates in England with Godspeed You Black Emperor! were capped off by an appearance at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, and they also opened numerous dates of Radiohead's European tour before year's end.
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