"Go" is the debut studio album by Icelandic musician Jónsi, frontman of the band Sigur Rós. The album was released on April 5, 2010, through XL Recordings.

According to a late May 26, 2009 post on Sigur Rós official site, the album features predominantly acoustic music and string arrangements from composer Nico Muhly. The album was co-produced by Alex Somers, Peter Katis and Jónsi himself, during summer 2009, in Reykjavík and Connecticut. A worldwide tour across North America and Europe also took place upon the album's release from April?May 2010, featuring Jónsi performing songs from the album and a "unique, cinematic" performance stage designed by 59 Productions.
Some may find the use of English on this, Jónsi's debut solo album, abhorrent. Others may welcome the opportunity to gain a more direct insight into the meanings of these songs. Either way, Jónsi's delivery is such that it's easy to get lost in what he's doing with his voice rather than what is being said.

Those with an ear to the ground will have already caught the wonderful Boy Lilikoi, a song which is naive in its approach to life and succeeds with a flurry of childlike innocence. It grows and swells with warmth, imploring those lucky enough to hear it to enjoy life before it is too late, with "use your life, the world goes and flutters by" being the key refrain. The vocal harmonies collapse over each other in seemingly endless fashion, drums thunder and skip in equal measure, and flutes are playfully light as they flutter around the ever growing strings. Has 'pop' music ever sounded this wonderful?

Likewise, opening track Go Do features an exquisite vocal and, although it's possible to grab snatches of sense, it's far easier to get swept up in the layered tones. The bass drum pounds like the heart of someone who's just discovered what love at first sight means, while the flutes and piccolos flit around the central vocal like glittering fairies, adding a mysterious sparkle.

If there's a theme to be found in the lyrics of Go, it must be that life is fleeting and is here to be enjoyed. This much is clear in the joyful percussive stomp of Animal Arithmetic, where the simple pleasures of combing hair and riding bikes take on an almost sepia toned charm. Delicate woodwind touches are hidden behind a glut of pummelling drums and assorted other clunks and whirs, but they colour the track just enough to ensure that the magical quality remains in what is otherwise a thunderous track.

Supporting Jónsi on this project is increasingly ubiquitous composer Nico Muhly. His arrangements are vital in ensuring that these songs attain spectacular heights. Tornado, to take one example, overflows with beautiful strings complementing a solitary bass-drum kick, and transforms a rather sinister song into something approaching that familiar ethereal Sigur Rós sound. Naturally Jónsi's vocals soar into a higher register as the song builds to a climax, whereupon he sounds like an angel in the throws of sinful ecstasy.

Muhly's presence is more keenly felt on Grow Till Tall and Hengilas. The tearaway percussion that drives Animal Arithmetic and the madly danceable Around Us is absent, and mournful strings take their place. Fans of earlier Sigur Rós material will find enough here to keep them happy, with cellos creating the pulse of the songs while Jónsi's consonant-free vocal style returns to breathe life into them. If the likes of Boy Lilikoi are the life of Go's party, then the aching cellos of Hengilas are its soul.

Go is a phenomenal record with almost every bar bursting with beauty. It is soulful, fun, naive and sad in its own fantastical world; if only life really were this good. This is a record that will make you believe it could be. By Sam Shepherd, musicOMH