Sigur Rós have announced a new orchestral album Odin’s Raven Magic featuring the Schola Cantorum of Reykjavik and L’Orchestre des Laureats du Conservatoire national de Paris. It will be released on Krunk via Warner Classics on Dec. 4. Alongside the announcement, Sigur Rós released the album’s lead single “Dvergmál.”
Odin’s Raven Magic is a collaboration between the band, celebrated Icelandic musician Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Steindór Andersen, known for his Rímur chanting.
The forthcoming album was inspired by one particular chapter of Iceland’s Medieval literary canon known as the Edda, titled Hrafnagaldur Óðins, aka Odin’s Raven Magic.
Hilmarsson explains:
Hrafnagaldur Óðins has lots of interpretation and implications that fire up the imagination… It’s a very visual poem, with images all about falling down, and a world freezing from north to south. It was an apocalyptic warning. Perhaps the people of the time felt it in their skins. Today, of course, Iceland is involved in environmental issues surrounding hydro-electric power and the destruction of the highlands. We are being warned again.
Listen to “Dvergmál” below, and pre-order Odin’s Raven Magic here. Keep scrolling for the album artwork and tracklist.
Odin’s Raven Magic Album Artwork
Odin’s Raven Magic Tracklist
01. Prologus
02. Alföður orkar
03. Dvergmál
04. Stendur æva
05. Áss hinn hvíti
06. Hvert stefnir
07. Spár eða spakmál
08. Dagrenning
