Topic: Sigur Ros

Sigur Rós ( (help·info)) is an Icelandic post-rock band with melodic, classical, and minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound and lead singer Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto voice.

Jón Þór (Jónsi) Birgisson (guitar and vocals), Georg Hólm (bass) and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson (drums) formed the group in Reykjavík in August 1994. Their name is taken from Jónsi's younger sister Sigurrós (which when translated into English means 'Victory Rose'), who was born the same day as the band was formed. They soon won a record deal with the local Sugarcubes-owned record label, Bad Taste. In 1997, they released Von (pronounced , meaning "hope") and in 1998 a remix collection named Von brigði (IPA: ). The name is Icelandic wordplay: Vonbrigði means "disappointment", but Von brigði means "variations on Von". The band was joined by Kjartan Sveinsson on keyboards in 1998. He is the only member of Sigur Rós with musical training, and therefore has contributed most of the orchestral and string arrangements for their later work.

International acclaim came with 1999's Ágætis byrjun ( "An all right start"). The album's reputation spread by word of mouth over the following two years. Soon critics worldwide hailed it as one of the great albums of its time, and the band was playing support to established acts such as Radiohead. Three songs, Ágætis byrjun', "Svefn-g-englar", and a live take of the then-unreleased "Njósnavélin" (later 'un-named' "Untitled #4") appeared in the Cameron Crowe film Vanilla Sky. The two songs also subsequently appeared in the US version of the television series Queer as Folk. Their music has also appeared in the TV series 24 with Ný batterí, CSI with "Svefn-g-englar" and CSI: Miami. In 2004, Wes Anderson used "Starálfur" in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou as did the Emmy winning 2005 TV film The Girl in the Café and "Untitled 3" (a.k.a. Samskeyti) can be heard in the final scene from the Gregg Araki film Mysterious Skin. They are also used in Enki Bilal's Immortel (Ad Vitam).