Kjartan Sveinsson, formerly of Icelandic band Sigur Rós, has announced that he’ll be releasing his first solo project on 28th October via Bel Air Glamour Records. Der Klang der Offenbarung des Göttlichen – or The Explosive Sonics of Divinity – is a four-part opera that was inspired by Nobel Laureate Halldór Laxness’ novel World Light and originally premiered at Berlin’s Volksbühne theatre in 2014.
Sveinsson composed the score for the opera, which came about with the help of Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson. The pair have worked together extensively in the past, but for this 50-minute show they created four parts, each with a different theatrical tableau. Scenery and slight weather events changed, without a single actor actually taking to the stage. Kjartansson says that “Der Klang der Offenbarung des Göttlichen’ is a banally romantic opera inspired by Halldór Laxness’s cunning texts about the longing for beauty.”
Watch a preview of Der Klang der Offenbarung des Göttlichen below.