Songfacts®:

• "Blóðberg" is Sigur Rós first new music in seven years. The Icelandic post-rock veterans shared the new single on June 12, 2023, just before the members kicked off their Europe and North American tour. It is the lead single from Átta, Sigur Ros' first new album in 10 years, which they surprise released four days later.
• Sigur Rós' comeback album and new track also marks the return of multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson to the band. Sveinsson had departed the band in 2012, saying he wanted to do something different.
• Clocking in at seven minutes, the song's sonic landscape is enriched by the orchestral contributions of The London Contemporary Orchestra, conducted by Robert Ames. Their collaborative efforts enhance the ethereal and transcendent quality that Sigur Rós is renowned for.
• Jónsi sings in Icelandic roughly between the first and third minute. The rest of the time, he croons in the band's made-up gibberish language they've created called Hopelandic.
• "Blóðberg" means "thyme" in Icelandic. From what we can glean, Jónsi is describing a time of darkness, despair, and rebirth. Its imagery is evocative of death and renewal, with the Sigur Rós singer describing a "black" sky, a "creeping thyme," and "summer days."
• Joining forces with Jónsi and bassist Georg Holm, Sigur Rós enlisted mixer and co-producer Paul Corely for the song. Corely is a frequent collaborator, dating back to their early days in the mid-1990s.
• In conjunction with the song's release, Sigur Rós presented a 10-minute music video directed by Johan Renck. Swedish director Renck is celebrated for his work on the HBO miniseries Chernobyl and his music videos for artists like Madonna, Robyn, and Beyoncé.
  
  "I feel as nihilistic as one could regarding the future," said Renck. "We are powerless against our own stupidities. Some aspects of this came to merge with my impressions of the themes of 'Blóðberg.' The music becoming a score to my own miserable thoughts, giving them beauty as only music can."
• The Átta album was inspired by a desire for unity when overwhelmed by tumultuous circumstances.
  
  "In a post-pandemic world torn apart by war, economic turmoil, culture wars, and brutally divisive discourse, Atta feels like a balming and unifying bond. It's what the music asked for and spoke for itself," revealed Holm. "This record sounds like a Sigur Rós album, but it's more introverted than before. It's very expansive with this sound of strings, but it looks within more than outside."