Kjartan Sveinsson has rejoined Sigur Rós nearly a decade after he left, the band have announced on Instagram.
Sveinsson was previously a member of the group from 1998, leaving in 2013 to “do something different”.
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The multi-instrumentalist was not replaced following his departure, with Jónsi telling Paste that year: “We never thought about getting somebody else to replace him. I think we just wanted to keep on with the three of us.”
Sigur Rós have now shared a screenshot of a video call featuring Jónsi, Georg “Goggi” Holm and Sveinsson. “Two old faces and one new old face,” they captioned the post. “Three of us happy to be back together and doing what we love doing. Exciting times ahead.”
Although keyboard player, guitarist and flautist Sveinsson is back in the line-up, the band remains without a drummer since the departure of Orri Páll Dýrason in 2018. Dýrason was accused of sexual assault by a fan on Instagram that year and stepped down from his position in the group, although he denied the allegations.
Sigur Rós have released one studio album since Sveinsson’s departure, 2013’s Kveikur.
In 2020, they released the collaborative soundtrack album Odin’s Raven Magic with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Steindór Andersen, Páll Guðmundsson and Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir. The composition originally served as an orchestral score to a poem by Hrafnagaldr Óðins and was created in 2002.
Last year, Jónsi released his latest solo album, Obsidian, alongside a visual art installation of the same name.
The exhibit was on view at New York’s Tanya Bonakdar Gallery and featured a plinth encircled by more than 200 speakers, sculptures made from resin and obsidian glass, and a sound installation centred around an armature piece adorned with flower-shaped metal discs.