The track was released with a video of the Icelandic band performing the Paris show over top the recorded single. The first single off the album, Dvergmal, featured a similar video and was released in October of this year.

Along with front-man Jonsi and bassist Georg Holm, Stendur æva features singer Steindor Andersen and other Icelandic artists such as Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, Maria Huld and Markan Sigfusdottir. This will be the first full-length album from Sigur Rós in 7 years, having released Kveikur back in 2013.

The late 1990’s and early 2000’s saw the band a large amount of success via multiple UK and US tours, Grammy and Icelandic award nominations and many high-status television features such as London Summer Olympics, Planet Earth and Slum Dog Millionaire. These accomplishments were mostly due to the most successful song that the band has ever released, the 2005 single Hoppipolla. This track became a massive world-wide hit and still remains relevant even in 2020 when it featured on Netflix’s ‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’.

In 2009 the band went on a four year hiatus while Jonsi pursued a solo-career with his debut album Go. By 2010 however, Jonsi announced at his solo Coachella performance that the band would be back together soon, by 2013 their latest album was released to critical praise and featured on the HBO series ‘Game of Thrones’.

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Since their latest full-length album Kveikur, the band has only released a series of mixtapes, re-releases or live sound-baths. A partial reason why Sigur Rós has not released a full-length album in 7 years is because of the multiple scandals they have been dealing with the last few years.

Original band member Dyrason was accused of sexual assault and resigned from the band in 2018 because of such allegations. The band also experienced a run in with the law for tax evasion, however after several tax suits their case was eventually thrown out in 2019.

Safety concerns around the Covid-19 global pandemic has kept the Icelandic band from scheduling any 2020 concerts or festivals around the UK. There is still no information on whether they will return to live in person shows to promote their upcoming album throughout UK or Ireland in 2021.

Stendur æva is now available for streaming and download and the music video can be seen on YouTube or the band’s social media. Odin’s Raven Magic is now available for pre-order or pre-save on all platforms.

‘Loom’ is both gentle and urgent, built around one repetitive refrain. It builds intensely, and then everything falls away, leaving the piano and a whisper of unintelligible lyrics. It carries the listener along at every turn.

Speaking of the whole experience of putting together ‘Loom’, Arnalds says, “I am a long time fan of Bonobo and have been fortunate enough to get to know Simon as a friend in the last few years. Last year we spent a couple of days in the studio, after traveling and camping in the Icelandic highlands, with no intention other than to spend some quality time with music. Later, as I started working on the album, I kept coming back to that one piece, ‘Loom’, as it felt like the perfect album opener. We kept working on it remotely early this spring and the end result is something I’m incredibly proud of.”

Bonobo (real name: Simon Green) said this, “’Loom’ was one of the pieces we worked on together during that time. It was a real honour to create something with Ólafur. A friend and someone I admire greatly.”

Loom ft. @si_bonobo
15.10.20 pic.twitter.com/QSifn23HYv

— Ólafur Arnalds (@OlafurArnalds) October 13, 2020

‘Loom’ is almost completely the other end of the spectrum to Bonobo’s previous collaboration: ‘Heartbreak’, with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. First shared at the end of September, this is a disco-driven, 70s inspired, NYC track through and through, and you can hardly imagine it in the Icelandic highlands. In fact, ‘Heartbreak’ will become the first 12” to be shared on Bonobo’s new label OUTLIER, on November 13. His consistent versatility is inspiring.

Bonobo has certainly been stirring these last few months – until recently, his latest project was his own studio album, Migration, released in 2017. Now, as of October, he has shared two new collaborations, a record label, and even a recent remix of Mercury Prize winner Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Final Days’ – Bonobo’s first remix since 2016.

Arnalds is also busy in the run up to some kind of peace; he has shared ‘Woven Song’, ‘We Contain Multitudes’ and ‘Back To The Sky’ (a collaboration with JFDR) already. some kind of peace will come out on November 6. Fans won’t have to wait long to see it live (virtually, anyway); he has been announced as the closing act of the first night of Iceland Airwaves’ online festival, Live From Reykjavík, on November 13 at 11pm.