We have been busy exploring new horizons with our music, and are thrilled to announce we are no longer a quartet! Sigurrós, the 13 year old sister of our good friend Jónsi, will join us on a permanent basis on drums, an instrument she has been playing since she was three years old. We have also decided not to tour for a couple of years, we hope you all understand we can’t let our junior member’s musical career interfere with her schoolwork. We are quite excited about it all and busy rehearsing for our first shows as a quintet. YAY!

Wow!

We extend our congratulations to the girls! You deserve it.

amiina have been scheduled to perform at two festivals in Europe.

At the time of writing it’s not yet up on the website, but they’re scheduled to play Nordklang Festival in Sankt Gallen, Switzerland, which runs from the 15th to the 17th of February.

Also on the 15th of February, amiina will perform with Jóhann Jóhannsson, Seabear and Ólafur Arnalds at Paleis voor Schone Kunsten (Palace for Fine Arts) as part of the Iceland On The Edge festival.

If you can make it to either of these, go for it! And be sure to take some photos and come back and tell us all about it!

It’s an hour long and quite awesome! :) Click here to check it out! Be sure to let them know on the blog if you like it, and you can also talk about it with other amiina fans in forum.

One is of Úgla and the other is of Lóri. They're great. Enjoy!

If you've recorded videos of amiina gigs, please let us know so we can share it with amiina fans everywhere!

EDIT: Sorry! The links weren't entered correctly! Fixed!

The song is essentially a combination of amiina’s track Hilli, with Hazlewood’s spoken word vocals layered over the top. Lovely stuff. :)

More information is still forthcoming, but you’ll find out here.

Any guesses as to who it might be? Speculation has already begun in the forum.

The Icelandic girls, who for years toured with Sigur Ros as both their support act and strings section, have released their first full-length album. Kurr (the sound that birds make in Iceland) sees the string quartet evolve from their usual violin, viola and cello to include pretty much every string instrument available as well as the very occasional low-key vocals. It's a mesmerising sound that will hopefully not just be picked up by Sigur Ros fans. 8/10 - AN

Click here to see the review within its original context on page 114 (544k).

We are very sorry to inform you that due to illness within the band, we have had to postpone our North American tour schedule to start in Washington DC next week. We obviously didn’t want this to happen and are very disappointed, but we will soon be over, before you know it! Thank you to those who have already bought tickets. Of course you will get a full refund, so please go to the point of purchase. However, we do have some cool things coming up, including a long tour in Europe in October. You’ll hear about the other stuff from here and our myspace first, so keep visiting us! Lots of love amiina Xx

Here’s hoping they get well soon!

Here’s a photo of the space from the Moviate site:

Tix are only $12 and available from Moviate.

This one from The Age newspaper in Australia includes a phone interview with Hildur. About Kurr the journalist comments:

The effects are stunning - unobtrusive instrumental atmospheres glisten with measured layers of melody and tiptoeing fragments of texture, while subtly sprawling arrangements sweep and swoon - and quite distinct from the electronic-influenced parlance of better-known Icelandic contemporaries Mum and Efterklang

It also showed up on Very Short List, which described Kurr as a combination of snow, chimes and Danny Elfman.

Seen any other reviews? Let us know in the forums.

Listening to amiina on CD is a lovely experience, but nothing exceeds seeing them live. This is a very large tour, so you’re encouraged to get out there and support this great band. :) You won’t regret it.

They are yet to be totally confirmed, but the dates seen so far are:

5 Sept 2007: HighLine Ballroom, NYC NY, USA 8 Sept 2007: Paradise Rock Club, Boston MA, USA 10 Sept 2007: The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto ON, Canada 12 Sept 2007: Lakeshore Theater, Chicago IL, USA

Tickets for the NYC show go on sale 6 July.

Now if we could just get a tour down here …