Riceboy Sleeps — Riceboy Sleeps

Celestial Icelandic band Sigur Ros' frontman Jonsi Birgisson and his partner Alex Somers (of similarly Icelandic celestially sounding Parachutes) have been exhibiting artwork for a while under the nom de guerre, Riceboy Sleeps. Thus, it makes sense the two musicians adopt the same moniker for their new project. Of course, they could have also opted for "Listener Sleeps" in a pinch.

First things first — this is by no means a bad album. It's well arranged and there's some very nice atmospheric walking-through-a-meadow-slowly-on-a-cold-winter-day material, but even as ambient tracks go, the whole thing's very minimal. Very, very minimal. Quite possibly too minimal.

Discounting the occasional choir of ethereal voices, the music is strictly instrumental — strings and other sounds abound. "Daniell In The Sea" makes you feel the water foam lapping at your ankles and "Sleeping Giant" is replete with the moans of ancient trees moving under their own weight. "Howl" brings in otherworldly growls and chirps (halfway between mogwais and the fake aliens at Universal Studios' E.T.: The Ride), while "Stokkseyri" has suspended strings worthy of the culmination of Van Dyke Parks' arrangement for "All I Want Is You."

It's all very pretty, but a little too quietly glacial after a while. With the vast majority of tracks clocking in at more than seven minutes, Riceboy Sleeps frequently feels a little too much like background serenity static for low-impact yoga. 

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