go go boy - interview of jónsi going solo and ready to talk boyfriends, babies and doing it with your best friend

                
                
一直很喜歡Sinking Friendships這首歌，我知道他是在寫和異性戀好友某些時候跨過了那條不該跨的線，和其後一直後悔的心境："It's a classic break-up song," he said. "I suppose I have gone through many. Growing up gay in Iceland, I didn't know anybody else like me, so I really didn't know how to... what's the word? Proceed?" He added: "Basically, I fell in love all the time, with all of my friends. That made for lots of... drama, a lot of awkwardness, and so much misunderstanding. I had to apologize a lot." 但是聽他自己談還是覺得很可愛(也很同情你)，但就像你說的， it’s bound to happen(壞笑)。
------------------------------------------------attitude 訪問正文-------------------------------------------------
we are in reykjavik and attempting to shoot one of iceland’s biggest music exports, jónsi birgisson outside. it is not the freezing cold that’s hampering the attitude shoot (it’s a balmy 4 c) or the fact that we’re operating in a daylight window that runs from 11am to 3pm. it’s the fact that jónsi, lead singer of a band sigur rós who have sold over a million records worldwide, is shy about fellow icelanders seeing him getting his photo taken. over six foot but stooped in his cape and sherlock holmes hat, jónsi cuts a curiously cute figure, darting out of shot as a couple of ladies on lunch cross our path. it is a typical sweetly oddball move by the 34 year old gay lead singer of a band who over the last 15 years have reacted to critical plaudits, a-list celeb endorsement and being the soundtrack to the x factor’s “you’re through to the next round” moments with reluctance bordering on repulsion. instead, sigur rós have let the music – gloriously, achingly beautiful orchestral cine rock – and jónsi’s androgynous, other worldly vocals, speak for themselves. and it’s to their homeland, which aptly operates in near permanent darkness for half the year, that the band’s four members have often retreated to escape the spotlight’s glare. it’s here in iceland that the band are currently safely ensconced and though a new sigur rós album is pencilled in for 2011, for now jónsi is working on other ideas that didn’t quite fit within that context. last year he released an instrumental album as part of his riceboy sleeps art project, which he makes with his american boyfriend of six years, alex somers.
and in march jónsi’s eponymous titled solo album, go, will be released. it’s an exquisitely arranged nine track record mostly sung in english and covering themes of boyhood love, friendship, the beauty of youth and the inevitability of old age. jónsi calls it a “hopeful” record, his sprightly, warm, darting vocals leaping into gorgeous life through musical arrangements by philip glass protege nico muhly, who has previously worked with antony & the johnsons and bjork. go is jónsi’s most personal work to date, delving into childhood memories of love and yearning, and adult themes of fear and death. it is brilliant; and for a man who doesn’t like the limelight, it is not the right way to go about avoiding it. over a raw food dinner, he tells all.
attitude: are you scared of doing this solo project?
jónsi: it’s super scary. i dunno why. there was a big confusion because first of all i’d been in sigur rós for 15 years. and all of a sudden i went from this safe environment of having three other guys to bounce ideas off. when i get tired i could tell them to take over. it was so easy. i didn’t actually realise until i went into this project when i had to do everything myself; everybody’s coming and asking things and you have to pretend to know. it’s also confusing because this album was supposed to be a small side step from sigur rós – not quitting or anything like that – they were all off having babies, not me. so i thought it was prefect timing to do something else. the first idea was to have a really low-key acoustic album but then it exploded into something totally different. the first demo was acoustic guitars, piano and ukulele. then songs became crazier and i had people in mind i wanted to work with like nico muhly. he’s amazing. he did all the arrangements with strings and brass. then there was no holding me back. we were in my apartment and he had one small keyboard and a computer and he did five songs in a night. he is so hyper active; it was really fun and exciting. he had worked on some albums that i heard and liked the arrangements because they were not like sigur rós. i didn’t want to have sigur rós arrangements. i wanted something crazier than the obvious choice.
your boyfriend alex also worked on this record as a producer. how does working with your boyfriend pan out?
me & alex? it’s been really good. we are always together anyway. we wake up, have a green smoothie, we are always together. it’s kind of the best fun. it’s perfect. he’s a really good musician and engineer. and for this album, it was really good to have him because he knows; he’s been with me from the start, from the beginning of writing. it’s really good to have him with me. he’s the only one who stands beside me the whole way. it’s just really good to have someone to bounce ideas off. you’re not alone! (laughs)
it’s alex who converted you to the raw food diet.
when i met alex he was a vegan and was really interested in raw food. he’s really hardcore. he’s maybe the most disciplined guy i ever met. he’s been on raw food for two and a half years. last february we went to hawaii to do our riceboy sleeps album. we stayed one month in a raw food community in the jungle in a small hut. it was paradise there, really fun. in february iceland is really depressing and dark. and we had the excuse that we were working in hawaii.
presumably the new song boy lilikoi, which means passion fruit, comes from the hawaii sessions. tell us about this song.
maybe it’s my fantasy boy, some gentle, wild and untamed boy. i don’t know. it’s maybe my fantasy of youth, boys, beauty. this idea of beauty which is so strong. you’re attracted to it, when you see a beautiful boy. it’s in your nature and maybe you have a fantasy about this nature boy. but then you grow old. we all grow old and sometimes we lose that beauty and innocence.
do you think that perhaps there’s an added romance to youth from being gay and having missed out on that romance when you’re young?
that’s a nice thought. one of my favourite films is you are not alone. it’s a danish movie i think. it’s amazing. it’s so cool. it’s about boys in a school and i think it’s from 1975. they have this mushroom haircut which is like the indie boys when i was young who were trying to be really cool. it’s this boy love story but it’s really young boys and it’s so cute somehow, it’s amazing. you have to check it out; it’s so pure and beautiful. it’s about falling in love with your best friend. it’s bound to happen really. you’re always together every single day.
did it happen to you?
yes.
did you ever tell your friend?
that i was in love with them? no. sometimes it went over the line [of friendship] where you had sex. then things got a little complicated, this line of friendship and best friends. it used to give me so much heartache when i was younger. it was so difficult when i was growing up.
your friends were straight?
yes. we’d get really drunk and have sex and things would get really complicated. it’s complicated especially when you don’t talk about it.
the song sinking friendships on the album is based on these experiences.
some of these memories for some reason have been engraved on my brain. these memories are so strong. when i was young, it was really innocent and you fall in love. things went over the edge and became complicated. it’s kind of sad. the friendship starts to drown at that point. it’s quite good to have something like that [on the album]. because most of the album is so up, that is striking by its difference in lyrics and tone. it’s good to be like that because the album is so up, up. it’s just life, up and down.
you and the band are so often painted as dreamers. but you sound like a realist?
like down to earth? i’m extremely down to earth. i’m definitely not a dreamer. i think people might think i’m a dreamer because i do stuff the way i want to do it. it doesn’t mean i’m a dreamer. i’m super strong and i follow what i know is wrong and right. if you listen to that and don’t follow the negative things, it will be like the force is with you. it’s really simple actually.
go doesn’t mark the end of sigur rós. you mentioned the others were off having children.
yes, it’s crazy. every few years there’s this baby boom. it’s really cool though. i think about [the possibility of having children]. sometimes i meet my friends and they have babies. my sister had a baby recently. it’s just so beautiful. it’s maybe the only everyday miracle that still happens. it’s just so beautiful. when i meet them and see that i think about having a baby and raising them as a human being. it’s beautiful. also the idea of adopting a child is so beautiful. there are so many beautiful children in the world without their parents. that idea is also extremely beautiful.
have you talked about this with alex?
no but he’s going to read about it in attitude! he’s much younger than me. he’s 25 and i’m 34. there’s an age difference. i’m becoming an old person and he’s young and fresh. maybe we’re going to have a dog first!
what sort of dog would you have?
not too small, not too big. my favourite is a street dog. a mixed breed. a mutt!
when we last spoke, you told us about olympic boys, which was this hardcore gay techno project you and alex were working on.
we haven’t made it into a reality yet. we have the idea in our heads but we haven’t put it on our priority list. i really want to do it. i would love to do it with a really cool video of wrestling boys all relaxing. i think it would be beautiful, this idea of boys bonding, competing in sports, celebrating or competing in their costumes or outfits.
do you want to be a popstar?
everybody’s saying i should go all the way, go for it [with this project]. it’s a funny conversation because in sigur rós it was a community and no one was the front person and we were really equal. when sigur rós started we didn’t like photoshoots, interviews, we didn’t like anything. but now, i don’t give a shit about any of that anymore. because it kind of doesn’t matter. you just live your life and die. i’m up for anything at this stage. i’m just letting it flow a little bit, everything around this to see how it grows and let it happen. it’s exciting.
have you talked to the other guys in the band about the project?
no, not at all. i have been consciously avoiding doing things the sigur rós way. i got nico muhly to do the arrangements, used a totally different drummer. it was about consciously going a totally different direction.
is there a draw to someone like nico in the sense that he’s also gay?
it doesn’t matter but it is cool. i really like it, the idea that he’s gay. he’s such an enigmatic and energetic person so i’m attracted to him because of that. he’s such a queen, really flamboyant. he’s super nice.
has nico taken you out in new york?
we went to this bar called the phoenix on a wednesday night. it was so funny for me, this young innocent icelander going to the big city and seeing so many boys in the world, it’s crazy. when you come from reykjavik, where there’s only place for one gay bar and then come to new york or london and it’s like “hallelujah!” it’s really funny for me. it’s so mind-blowing. i always remember the first time, when we were travelling, and i went to heaven. it was the first time i went to a gay bar in london and thought, “what the hell?!” i’d only been to this one gay bar in reykjavik and there was the same 40 people there that you meet every weekend. and you go to this warehouse of boys, it’s crazy. it was just a little bit overwhelming for me, like “whoa”, a little bit too much.
have you ever dragged your band mates out?
yeah, i remember when we were playing in new york and went to a place called the cock [infamous gay hole in downtown manhattan]. i’m the only gay in the band and crew. everybody’s straight. after some show, i said, “now we go to a gay bar”. it was pride or something and when you opened the door it was just black, dark. like a big darkroom. nobody had ever experienced anything like it. i remember the drummer; he was so innocent and so cute. he said, “aw, i think i have to go out”. it was way too much for him.
do you like going to gay bars?
i love everything about it, being gay actually. i love me being who i am. i kind of like the society in some ways. i like the gay bars, the culture; i like the stereo[typical] image of guys. i don’t want to sound offensive or anything but i really like the really over the top feminine side to gay guys. i really love queeny men. the stereotypical side of the gay community is sometimes funny because it’s so stereotypical. it’s kind of cool in some ways. i think that’s funny. sometimes it annoys me how stereotypical it is. but i love everything about it.
some gay men say gay culture doesn’t represent them. it doesn’t represent you but what’s interesting is that you don’t reject it.
i think that’s the reason i really like it. i like the queens, i really like to talk to them because they are so over the top and they are kind of the opposite to me. i think i’m kind of boyish and manly in some ways. i’m definitely not feminine in any way. i really like this feminine side which i’m lacking. i’m attracted to it; i like it. and i like that people are doing it, because it shows that people are different. i’m exactly the opposite. i’m a country boy, grew up in the country and then when i came out of the closet it was extremely slow. i told my friends, my parents. then was no bomb drop. some guys come out of the closet and it’s like “wah!” and everything is different but for me it was extremely slow motion. it’s amazing to think that it’s still an issue. it’s amazing to think that coming out of the closet is still an issue in the society we live in. it is crazy, in school and everywhere it should be totally normal. it’s amazing to think that 50 years on, no one might think about it.
if that is the case, do you think that being gay will or should remain a core part of your identity?
i think for me personally to realise that i was gay, when i think about it afterwards, being a musician and being gay, it helped me find myself as a musician. in this society we live in, you are not supposed to be gay especially if you grow up in the country. so i lived in my room, painting, drawing, making music. i had an urge to create something. thinking about it afterwards, it seemed like a way to escape. i came out when i was 20. and i had to make something. you meet some gay guys who drink a lot just to take on this “i’m gay” and just drink themselves to death. i took all that energy into creating something.
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