The lineup of Icelandic band Sigur Rós has just undergone an unexpected change for an upsetting reason: Orri Páll Dýrason, who was previously a member of the band since 2009, has left the group after sexual assault allegations against him surfaced recently.
In a post on Facebook, the band writes, “In the wake of the extremely serious and personal allegations made against him in recent days, we have today accepted the resignation of our bandmate Orri Páll Dyrason to allow him to deal with this privately. Jónsi & Georg.”
A few days ago, Meagan Boyd, a musician also known as Yin Shadowz, shared an Instagram post containing the allegations, saying she was inspired to tell her story by Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. She wrote that the incident happened while the band was in Los Angeles recording their most recent album, 2013’s Kveikur. Boyd says that after meeting Dýrason in a club and later falling asleep with him, she “woke up with the feeling of being penetrated without my consent during a deep slumber.”
“In January of 2013 I was sexually assaulted by a member of the band [Sigur Rós] when they were in Los Angeles recording an album that was set to come out later that same year,” she wrote. “My assailant’s name is Orri Páll Dýrason. I never reported it. I never expressed my pain publicly. I harbored this ache now for almost 6 years… for many reasons.”
Find Boyd’s original post below.
“In January of 2013 I was sexually assaulted by a member of the band @sigurros when they were in Los Angeles recording an album that was set to come out later that same year. My assailant’s name is Orri Páll Dýrason. I never reported it. I never expressed my pain publicly. I harbored this ache now for almost 6 years… for many reasons. I felt no one would believe me, I felt I had been irresponsible for trusting him just because he was in a band I loved and I respected him as an artist. I was drunk, and I had met him at a club (I had a brief period in which I was a dancer at a club called “the body shop”), I also engaged in a kiss with him before falling asleep in the same bed, after that I completely knocked out. I woke up with the feeling of being penetrated without my consent during a deep slumber.. it happened twice that night, and I wondered myself why I didn’t leave after the first time- but I was drunk, dead tired, in shock, and this was right before I ever heard of anything like Uber/lyft … but none of that should matter because no one deserves to be raped/touched/licked/f**ked without CONSENT. (((My heart is racing and I’m shaking just typing this.))) I wasn’t ready to go public in the midst of the hype of the #metoo movement because just speaking about it gives me intense anxiety and I was about to give birth to my first child. In the wake of the news of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford calling out Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, I was triggered to speak out myself. Ironically, he’s now engaged to feminist activist who is also the founder of the Icelandic Slut walk (go figure…) And if I hear another damn Sigur Ros song during a yoga class ever again I’m gonna scream. Those songs I once found deliciously calming, beautiful and serene now leave a disgusting taste in my mouth. #endrapeculture”
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