We Bought a Zoo (Soundtrack): Jónsi

    Admittedly I have been having trouble finding a band to start the year off with. I typically keep track of songs or groups here and there, stick them in my browser bookmarks and check them out later when it comes time to write a new post, but this time around I kept going through and deleting them after quick album previews until I was left with no options. So I decide to write up an album that was past released, and Sigur Ros came to mind, because I have not done anything on them; except they really deserve a spotlight of some sort, a 'Tribute to...' post. Anyway, I then remembered that Jónsi did the [high recommended by my friend Tim] soundtrack to this film, We Bought a Zoo, which I regrettably have not seen yet, and I knew I had found my post. Ironically, my first post last year was also a soundtrack, Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy score. Luckily I found this soundtrack in time, because as hard as it is to find legal streams of movie scores online, Rolling Stone has a free stream on their website here. The soundtrack came out December 13th of last year, the film December 23rd. So, go there, sit back, listen and enjoy as you read further. I think the album cover is clever, by the way, with the paw prints forming a tree, very ingenious.
    You may know I was an incredibly huge fan of Jónsi's debut solo LP, Go (2010), giving it my favorite album of 2010 honors, while the song "Tornado" came in the number two spot. I also am a huge fan of Sigur Rós, of which Jónsi is the front man, song writer and vocalist. Oddly enough I did not write Go up, just got lost in the mix I guess (or...I really dropped the ball there!). If you do know Jónsi's Go, then you will recognize a few songs from that album on the soundtrack, "Boy Lilikoi", "Sinking Friendships", and "Go Do". There is also a Sigur Rós track, " Hoppípolla " (which means "Jumping into Puddles" in Icelandic), one of the singles from their album Takk (2005).
    What I love about Jónsi's compositions is their brightness, their hope, their elan! OK, there are some gorgeous darker more melancholy tunes, but for this effort, they sparkle with the best of them and are just ethereally beautiful and all around pleasant to listen to. The use of a Celeste-ish type instrument and piano is really gives the music this twinkling ping, which makes it glow as if surrounded by this aura (a Celeste is a type of keyboard that strikes high pitched steel or metal plates when you press a key and are used in symphony orchestras on occasion, think Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet, "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"). The strings also help, with this watery wavy atmospheric drifting, while the vocals are multiplied over themselves to add additional chorale-esque (I think I just made up a new word!) ambiance. There is even some interesting, if not out of character, Lo-fi stuff in there, which is new from Jónsi. One downsides to this soundtrack, perhaps, is the songs are short and do not meld into each so much. Plus, there are not as many songs with actual lyrics, more of background music, so this is not the best choice for a party or something you'd sit your best friends down to listen to. It would be great homework or reading music, however, and would help create that sort of mind memory, where when you returned to that favorite book later in life you'd have memories of the music along with it (that actually happened to me especially with the Lord of the Rings [book] trilogy, with DC-Talk I think, can't remember exactly--it was probably over 10 years ago now eventually you form new associations.
    Well, hope you find the music a soothing moment among your busy life and that you go on to check out Jónsi or Sigur Rós further. If not, make sure to keep an eye out for when I do give them the credit they deserve--Jónsi may even have another LP coming out this year, I'm not yet sure of the validity of the rumors. Enjoy the final song "Gathering Stories" under 'Monthly Sample Tracks' and check out a video on YouTube here! There is also another track, "Ævin Endar" from the soundtrack on Jónsi's SoundCloud here.