Sigur Rós release video for new single Stendur æva

(Image credit: Eva Vermandel)

Icelandic post-rockers Sigur Rós have streamed their brand new single Stendur æva. The song is taken from the band's long-awaited new album release, Odin’s Raven Magic, an orchestral work featuring the Schola Cantorum of Reykjavik and L’Orchestre des Laureats du Conservatoire national de Paris. The work, which draws from the band’s deep roots in both orchestral and choral traditions, will be released on Krunk, via Warner Classics, on December 4.

Odin’s Raven Magic draws from the band’s roots in orchestral and choral traditions, and is a collaboration between the band, Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Icelandic music legend Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, and Steindór Andersen, one of Iceland’s most respected chanters of traditional epic narrative.

Stendur æva features vocals from both Jónsi and Steindór Andersen. Classical with a modern edge, dramatic, beautiful and meditative, the song was recorded with a full choir and symphony orchestra.

The orchestral and choral arrangements were largely handled by former Sigur Rós member and arranger Kjartan Sveinsson, and Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir from the band amiina, and the piece prominently features the unique sound of a five-octave marimba built from roughly-hewn pieces of stone by sculptor and artist Páll Guðmundsson.

Pre-order Odin’s Raven Magic.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.