Virðulegu Forsetar

Virðulegu Forsetar is a single ambient-influenced piece built on one phrase, split into four parts for technical reasons. It is scored for eleven brass players, organs, piano, bass, glockenspiel, bells and electronics, with the Caput Ensemble under Guðni Franzson. Jóhannsson wrote, arranged and produced it and played piano and electronics.

It was first performed in 2003 at Hallgrimskirkja in Reykjavik, and the album was recorded in the same church. Players stood on all sides of the audience, and Jóhannsson filled the building with slightly underinflated helium balloons that fell slowly into the crowd. Mark Richardson reviewed it for Pitchfork in November 2004. He wrote that Jóhannsson gives the refrain different meanings by slowing it down, shifting its pitch and setting it beside drones, and that it vanishes for minutes at a time. The release came with a DVD audio disc carrying a 5.1 surround mix. After Jóhannsson's death, Adam Wiltzie organised a remembrance performance of the piece on what would have been his 49th birthday, at the Church of Saint John the Baptist at the Béguinage in Brussels.