Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
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CD Details
Artist: Sigur RosEdition: Music CD
Music Label: PIAS America Records/Fontana
Soundtracks:
- Intro
- Svefn g englar
- Staralfur
- Flugufrelsarinn
- Ny batteri
- Hjartad hamast
- Vidrar vel til loftarasa
- Olsen olsen
- Agaetis byrjun
- Avalon
Music reviews of Agaetis Byrjun
Music Review: Arguably Sigur Rós' finest achivement....
Rating: 5 Stars
Formed in Iceland in 1994, this collective of Icelandic musicians first delivered their spacey, and atmospheric blend of wintry post-rock, with their 1997 debut "Von", a sprawling, insular record that moved into darker and more fractured sounds and a sublimely tenuous compositional grasp, than the majority of their peers. Strange considering that this was roughly around the period in time when bombast rock bands, Hardcore rap, and Dance/Electronica/Trip-hop, and grunge....has established themselves over the last few years. So, to release a largely contemplative and studied, and by turns simultaneously transcendent and grounded almost introspective album, it seems like a massive folly on the part of the record label. And although the record initially only did modest sales, at retail....it has over time, began to slowly spread by-word-of-mouth, and although not a title that caused everyone to run out and buy it, those that did, were rewarded with a truly remarkable album.
Although "Von" was an album that has now divided listeners with it's slightly unwieldy soundscapes structures (I loved it personally), but what that album did, was test the waters, and ably setup the group up for releasing possibly their finest moment. The singular and ethereal beauty of "Ágætis Byrjun". This is album that is as delicate as it is affecting, an album that is so beautifully ambitious and indulgent, that for a band of 4 musicians from the more remote parts of Iceland, could deliver something so profoundly moving, and hugely epic soundly, is a remarkable achievement in itself. String sections weave in and out, of deceptively complex arrangements, chamber instruments throb, and flutter around skeletal drums and sepulchral bass, mixed with spectacular orchestrated arrangements, heavy strings, dense lush atmospherics, and vocals which are a made-up language (that the band call "Hopelandish") which take the form of a highly melodic warbling. (much like the "Cocteau twins", earlier work), which to the ear, is a unidentifiable dialect, but in the context of the songs is tremendously evocative. It's a remarkably soothing experience, whereby the simple verbal names, themes, places, or indeed partial hopes are all mashed down, and liquefied into a largely unintelligible canopy of dreamy sounds capes, and melancholic moods.
In fact, such is the scaled down hypnotic symphonies, and rich, shimmering sonic panoramas, that it can on occasion, become a little too galvanising, as the album has the tendency (if listening to it, in one sitting) to occasionally wash over the listener, and occasionally one track seems to blend into another without the listener largely aware. But what largely prevents this is the elongated passages of theatrical mood, ambitious emotional extremes, and indulgent crescendos, which provide a suitably ample background for the violins, Cellos, horn sections and even harmonicas, which all manage to sit skilfully on top of the delicate melodies without becoming cluttered or overbearing on each other, and beautifully creating a dynamic sense of gloomy tension one minute, and then passionately rising and soaring the next. Which is no mean feat in itself, and merely highlights the band completely working together as a unit, and no one musician (or instrument) dominating their performances.
Choosing to review an album now, which was released in 1999, seems like an odd choice...but seeing as I stuck it on after having not listened to it for at least a 2 years. I was fully reminded of the sheer brilliance of this album. And such is the sheer brilliance of this record, that I felt compelled to review it, to make anyone that was considering make the purchase that hasn't already, to do so, with a full whole-hearted recommendation. It's an album that is in equal parts frail and intimate one minute, and ambitious and epic the next, thanks to the progressive arrangements. It's an album that has the ability to draw in new listeners, for those that hear it for the first time, such is its incredibly emotional engagement, and regardless of whether or not, this is this best album (opinion varies, although this is possibly most-widely recognised as their best work), anyone that doesn't have this extraordinary album as part of their collection, really needs to buy this.
Description of Agaetis Byrjun
Reykjavík-based noise quartet Sigur Rós are the biggest band in their native Iceland, which should say much, much more about the collective insanity of that earthquake-ridden, blizzard-beaten crag of an island than anything to do with Sigur Rós's sound. But in their music, Sigur Rós reflect all the breathtaking glory of the Icelandic wastes--a fairy-tale explosion of unhinged elemental majesty that's finally crystallized here, their debut European release. Poised somewhere between the haunting soundscapes of Labradford and the lilting Celtic falsetto of Enya, Agaetis Byrjun is a truly breathtaking listen. Frontman Jon Por Birgisson sings in a language that Sigur Rós dub "Hopelandic"--an otherworldly mutation of Icelandic, sung in the falsetto cadence of angels; similarly, he plays his guitar with a violin bow, opening the floodgates for brilliant waves of feedback. And while it's the opening "Svefn-G-Englar" that's Sigur Rós' moment to date, there's far more that they have to offer; listen to the pomp and flourish of a full orchestra on "Flugufrelsarinn," or the awe-inspiring near-religious mantra of "Ny Batteri." --Amazon.co.ukAlternative Rock CDs
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