JONSI & ALEX Riceboy Sleeps (2009 UK 9-track CD album - Known primarily for his haunting falsetto and other-worldly presence as the singer in Sigur Rós, Jon Thor [Jónsi] Birgisson has - together with his partner Alex Somers - been exhibiting artwork & staging exhibitions under the name Riceboy Sleeps for two or three years now. Human in a profound and verging-on spiritual way, the album is awash with both tension and stimuli, as well as being frequently, and stunningly, beautiful. Played solely on acoustic instruments in iceland [and featuring long-time string collaborators Amiina, as well as the Kopavogsdaetur choir] and then endlessly toyed with, 'Riceboy Sleeps' has a suitably organic feel to it; the wave-like lapping of its tidal flow buried beneath analogue hiss, crackle, pulse and distortion; the creaking of rigging and sometime indeterminate falling delicately over; and, on 'Howl', ruminative animal chirrups, grunts, snorts and purrs. With highlights including 'Happiness' [previously featured on the 'Dark Was The Night' compilation], 'Daniell In The Sea', 'Sleeping Giant' and more!)