Jonsi - Shiver (2LP) - 180g

Jónsi’s second solo album, Shiver, arrived on October 2, 2020, and it still feels like a bold reset. A decade had passed since Go, and rather than return to the cinematic post-rock arcs most listeners associated with Sigur Rós, he teamed with A. G. Cook, the PC Music architect known for his work with Charli XCX, to build something more jagged and gleaming. The result is a record where Jónsi’s featherlight falsetto moves through chrome textures and restless programming, the kind of contrast that can be shocking for a minute, then strangely moving once your ears settle into it.

You can hear that push and pull right away in the early singles. Exhale is patient and tender, built on a soft pulse that swells until it feels like it might lift off the ground. Swill is the opposite, a rush of serrated synths and nervous energy that places his voice in the middle of a digital storm. Cannibal brings Elizabeth Fraser into the fold, a small miracle for anyone who grew up treasuring Cocteau Twins and Sigur Rós in the same stack. Her vocal threads around his like sea mist, fragile but glowing. Salt Licorice, the duet with Robyn, taps into pop urgency and Nordic heartbreak at once, a dance floor confession that still carries Jónsi’s sense of yearning.

A. G. Cook’s fingerprints are everywhere, though he never flattens the artist beneath the concept. Beats crack like glass, synths snap and wobble, then vanish to leave space for a choral stack or a breathy phrase. Jónsi has always loved texture, whether through bowed guitar or glacial ambience, and here he swaps those tools for granular edits, clipped percussion, and high sheen. It sounds modern, but it also sounds very much like him. The melodies are unguarded and often sweet, which makes the grime around them feel like an intentional frame, a way to heighten the light in the center.

Shiver also makes smart use of scale. Several tracks feel intimate, almost like demos polished into prisms, then another will bloom toward a widescreen peak. That sense of dynamic keeps the album from turning into one long experiment in abrasion. It is adventurous, yes, but it is also full of hooks you can hum later. Even when Jónsi leans into distortion, there is an ear for contour and movement that keeps things human. The record landed to thoughtful coverage from places that have followed his journey for years, and the general critical read was that this was not a left turn for its own sake, it was a realignment that unlocked new colors in his songwriting.

If you come in through Sigur Rós, the trick is to treat Shiver not as a detour but as a continuation. The sense of awe is still there, just refracted through glossy electronics. Those glowing, wordless moments he made famous are now sharpened by synthetic edges. It is music for late nights and decent headphones, the kind of album that rewards a full front to back listen.

For collectors, it is a satisfying piece to spin. Shiver vinyl brings the dynamics into focus, giving the quiet passages air and the percussive hits real bite. If you have been browsing for Jónsi vinyl, this one sits nicely alongside Go and his soundtrack work, and it is a compelling way to hear how he reshaped his voice in the 2020s. If you prefer to buy Jónsi records online, most shops that keep an eye on contemporary art pop will have it, and you will also find Jónsi albums on vinyl in the better curated bins. I have even seen it pop up at international retailers that specialize in vinyl records Australia, so if you are wandering a Melbourne record store there is a decent chance you will spot the sleeve.

Shiver is the rare collaboration that honors both sides. You can trace A. G. Cook’s hyper-detailed production and you can feel Jónsi’s melodic compass pointing north. Between Exhale, Cannibal, Salt Licorice, and Swill, the album offers multiple doors in, each one showing a different facet of the same emotional core. It is intense, sometimes abrasive, often beautiful, and it leaves a cooling afterglow that sticks with you. If you are curious where he went after the sweeping peaks of his band, this is your answer, and it sounds right on vinyl.