Jónsi Birgisson (Sigur Rós) Records “Go” With Peter Katis

December 22, 2009 by Janice Brown

Producer/engineer Peter Katis has a gift for distilling a band’s sound, using instinct, technology and personal invention to help bring out the sonic temperament of a song in all its complexity. For example, The National,Interpol, The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit … all bands whose distinctly weighty sounds Katis helped to craft in the studio, meshing darkening tones with sublime choruses, harmonies both plaintive and ecstatic, and the sonic grit and sheen of every piece making up the whole.

Production/engineering highlights from Katis’ recent history include Tokyo Police Club’sElephant Shell, Mates of State’s Re-Arrange Us, The Grates’ Teeth Lost Hearts Won, Julian Plenti’s Skyscraper, Fanfarlo’s Resevoir, The Swell Season’s Strict Joy and a new record bySigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson, due out onXL in March ‘10.

An engineer and musician, Katis has tremendous chops in the studio and his studio has become an important character in the artistic process of bands that hole up there to work.

Located in the attic of a giant Victorian home in nondescript Bridgeport, CT, Tarquin Studios is filled with both the rare and requisite in musical instruments, amps, microphones, pedals and effects boxes, and Katis’ thoroughly vetted recording and mixing systems. Often distortion-infused yet never distracting from melody or musicality, the best Katis productions seem to so tastefully blend recorded sounds with studio manipulation and space that by some sonic association, they hit you like a mood or a season or a memory.

Needless to say, we were excited at the idea of Katis producing Birgisson’s new solo record, Go.

So how did you end up working with Jónsi Birgisson? How/why do you think he came to you?
He really liked the sound of the Fanfarlo record and was familiar with several other records I’ve done. It started out as a really modest project; it was just going to be an acoustic guitar and vocal kind of record, and now, it’s massive. And, it’s really ended up sounding quite different from Sigur Rós.

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