Sigur Ros Announce New Album, Confirm Keyboardist’s Departure

Icelandic outfit Sigur Ros are holed up in a Los Angeles studio working on a follow-up to last year's 'Valtari' and plan to release the as-yet-untitled album sometime in 2013. The band revealed plans for their seventh full-length during a Reddit AMA that took place Thursday (Jan. 24), and in addition to breaking the news, they posted a previously unreleased studio recording (listen below) of a track titled 'Brennisteinn,' which they debuted last year during a hometown concert in Iceland.

Sigur Ros also confirmed the permanent departure of founding member and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson, who sat out last year's tour but vowed to continue recording with his mates.

"Kjartan has left yes but all on a good note," the band wrote collectively in their AMA. "He wanted to leave for some time. We have added some extra hands but that's also because we use a lot of instruments on the albums and we can´t play them all at the same time live. We want the live experience to be as good as possible."

Speaking of live experiences, Sigur Ros will kick off lengthy world tour on Feb. 13 in Porto, Portugal, with a handful of North American dates slated for March and April. Check out their updated itinerary here.

Listen to Sigur Ros' New Song 'Brennisteinn'