Riceboy Sleeps

Anybody listening to this Sigur-Ros-once-removed album? Riceboy Sleeps is Sigur Ros songwriter/choirboy Jonsi and musical/life partner Alex Somers. It's Sigur Ros Lite, or, if you prefer, all of the ethereal noodling and none of the big, bombastic payoff. I don't mean that as negatively as it probably comes across, although I'll admit that it's no substitute for a proper Sigur Ros album. What it is is an hour plus of heavily reverbed cooing and sighing, complete with the requisite appearances from string quartet Amiina and a children's choir. As background music it's first rate; ambient enough to allow you to concentrate on whatever task is at hand, varied enough to occasionally pique your interest and make you realize that music is playing. But, for the first time, Jonsi has concocted a batch of music that, if not quite inconsequential, is certainly inessential.