Sigur Rós Frontman Talks Side Project

...and raw food recipes.
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You know those lulling, ambient interludes that come between earth-cracking crescendos on every Sigur Rós album? Imagine an entire record made up of such calming moments and you have a good idea of what the upcoming record from Sigur Rós front man Jon Thor "Jónsi" Birgisson and his boyfriend Alex Somers sounds like. The largely instrumental record, dubbed Riceboy Sleeps, is out July 20 in Europe via Parlophone (U.S. release details are yet to come) and July 21 via XL in the U.S. It will be available in standard form, double vinyl, and as a tricked-out boxed set packaged with a bonus EP.

We recently chatted with Jónsi (who was drinking raw cocoa in his Reykjavík apartment) and Somers (who was taking a break from mastering the Riceboy album in London) about the LP and how it was inspired by giants, tapping books, and coconut cream soup...

"This album is many years in the making-- we've just been doing it while we prepare food and stuff," says Jónsi of the laid-back nature of the Riceboy sessions. "There's a computer in our kitchen, so we'd just make dinner and open another song. I remember we made this coconut cream soup that was really good." (Scroll down for Jónsi's Thai Coconut Curry recipe-- seriously.) "I would yell at Jónsi to stop blending so I could hear what I was doing sometimes," adds Somers.

Mostly recorded in the pair's small Reykjavík abode, the duo took full advantage of their surroundings. "In our living room, we have a piano, a celeste, a harmonium, a bunch of guitars, a few glockenspiels, a miniature vibraphone," says Somers. "And there are a lot of noises based on stuff we sampled around our house-- just tapping on books or weird old furniture. The last song on the album is just the sound of an accordion's bellows-- when you pull it open and closed-- without any notes. Just the breathing of the accordion."

The album's pastoral aura reflects the humility of its gestation. Though Jónsi is famous for his unearthly vocals, his high-pitched wail is rarely heard here-- and when it does pop up, it's in the background. When asked why one of the most unique voices in music would choose to rest his pipes, he deadpanned, "I never thought about singing over the songs. Maybe I should've sung more." And while the one song featuring his voice most prominently, "Indian Summer", is a definite highlight, the lack of vocals helps to make Riceboy its own entity apart from Sigur Rós.

Other than food and random sounds, the pair found inspiration in abstract visions, too. For example, the final track, "Sleeping Giant" was spurred on by an image of "a really, really big giant floating in the middle of the ocean in a really tiny boat," according to Jónsi. "He was sleeping." And while many could come up with a similar Gulliver-like image, few could turn it into "Sleeping Giant", a creaking soundscape that does away with any giant-in-a-tiny-boat whimsy, instead opting for lost-at-sea melancholy.

There are no concrete plans for any Riceboy Sleeps live gigs, but Somers is considering it. "It would be our dream to play on an old boat, and project images onto really old boat sails," he says, thinking aloud. "That would be a really beautiful thing, rather than just playing a concert." Just another unconventional idea from a couple guys who are working on a different plane than pretty much everyone else.

As promised, Jónsi and Alex's coconut cream soup recipe, taken from a recipe book the duo put together for friends and family last year: