Sigur Rós - Sigur Rós
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CD Details
Artist: Sigur RósEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2002-10-29
Music Label: Mca
Soundtracks:
- Untitled 1
- Untitled 2
- Untitled 3
- Untitled 4
- Untitled 5
- Untitled 6
- Untitled 7
- Untitled 8
Music reviews of Sigur Rós
Music Review: Incomparable
Rating: 5 Stars
More than enough people have written gushing reviews of this album, but it's understandable, because it's arguably the finest sequence of music that's been heard. The reason this album surpasses its wonderful predecessor, Agaetis Byrjun, is the level to which the group has pared down the arrangements. With Agaetis Byrjun, pretty much everything was thrown into the mix - brass, strings, sonar sounds - which perhaps slightly detracted from the brilliance of the compositions. I certainly wish that Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa had been recorded in a straightforward way, as it's one of their great compositions, but the vocal is too buried and distorted on the album version. On the third album, everything is heard as it needs to be heard, without much decoration (just the odd computerised sound in the background). So you have piano, organ, bass, guitar, drums. It's very close to how the compositions are heard live (many of them are even better live, it should be said). The first track, Vaka, has regularly been used as the opener at live shows; it was only through hearing the live renditions that I fully appreciated the beauty of this piece. It is devotional; it is a spiritual exaltation, reaching out from a state of blissful reflection to a vocal climax of spiritual ecstasy. The simple piano part establishes the minimalist tone of the album. The second track, Fyrsta, shows Jonsi floating his beautiful falsetto over the downbeat notes of the guitar. It's one of those great Sigur Ros moments, when one finds one's soul lifting with the vocal, and accompanying it on its flight. It's a piece of music that can be undervalued; it really is superb. This is followed by the instrumental Samskeyti, which almost always follows on from Fyrsta at live performances: the two pieces are intended to be considered together, almost certainly. The minimalist circular piano part which drives the piece, is certainly astonishing in its ability to affect a listener; it's both hypnotic and galvinising. Sigur Ros instrumentals do not tend to match the song-compositions, but Samskeyti is an exception. This is followed by the beautiful Njosnavelin (also referred to at one time as the Nothing Song). In some ways, it is a sister to Vaka. It has a similar use of piano, and similar vocables from Jonsi, though it also employs organ to good effect. The end of the track is always slightly surprising, as the sound cuts out just as Jonsi draws in his breath as if to repeat the melodic line. One is then left twenty seconds of silence in which to readjust oneself, before the long, funereal Alafoss trudges in. The first half of the album is impressive, but the second half goes up another level. Alafoss is one of the most mournful pieces of music that's ever been recorded. It has the sombreness of a requiem played in church. Jonsi's falsetto has rarely seemed as eerie and dark as it does here. However the piece does shift towards its end, as the guitars start to exert their influence, and the organ loses its foremost position in the mix. It's not a piece that has often been performed live, which is regrettable, as it is one of the most powerful Sigur Ros compositions. It's similar in its slowness to Nyja Lagid, which was once a live fixture, but never found a studio release (only a live version on the Svefn-G-Englar EP). Alafoss is followed by the superb Ebow, with its pounding tattoo-like drum pattern (which had been prefigured in Bium Bium Bambalo, the main template for the third album, in my view). Jonsi's falsetto is at its purest and most beautiful. A key to alot of the compositions on the album, and particularly this one, is the group's refusal to give too much, keeping things economic in terms of the melody. When the guitars kick in here, it's not a form of exaltation like on the previous album, or of intimidation and adrenalin, as on the final two tracks here, it's more as a statement of realisation, as a conclusion to a meditation. When I hear Ebow I keep thinking Jonsi's singing 'never, never die'. For this reason perhaps, I consider it to be an optimistic rather than a pessimistic piece of music. Which cannot be said of the following track, Dauoalagio (The Death Song). The first time I heard this thirteen minute masterwork, I was pretty much dumbfounded. It moves through its stages masterfully, with extraordinary intent. It rises and falls, with moments of deadly quiet and deadly noise, culminating in Jonsi's lonely voice, repeating the same phrase suggesting an entreaty to the gods, begging for mercy or salvation. Jonsi vocal comes to an intimate, emotional conclusion, then the memorable opening guitar line of Popplagid (The Pop Song) unfolds. This composition is certainly the best final track of any album ever, and almost always closes Sigur concerts. It rolls along for the first couple of minutes in a comfortable way, before Jonsi's voice starts to move its way upwards in anticipation of the wave of noise that soon crashes in with pounding drums. At times Jonsi's voice can be like a siren, wailing above the music, alerting the listener to forces of darkness swirling around us. It's certainly true on this piece. The composition sinks down once more, and we listen, waiting for the next tide of noise to swell, which it duely does. But what follows that is perhaps unexpected. We hear just the pounding drums on their own, then Jonsi's voice starts to murmur in the background. Then the drums stop and one is left with an insistent tugging electric guitar line. And Jonsi's cry becomes more insistent, more siren-like. Before the mammoth weight of the track finally kicks in with screaming guitars and pounding drums and Jonsi's repetitive cry. It's simultaneously one of the most exhilirating and terrifying moments in recorded music. The music can only come to a lurching, exhausted conclusion, which it does. And the album is finished. And the experience cannot be forgotten. Particularly the sequence from Alafoss to Popplagid. One of the keys to the power of these compositions is the level to which they have been honed. Popplagid was regularly performed live as far back as 1999. Most of the other compositions had also been heard live for a few years before the album's release. Sigur allowed these songs to build to greatness through their repeated performance and natural evolution. Most groups would have released studio versions alot sooner, but Sigur wisely bided their time. Hopefully on the next album, we will hear studio versions of Salka, Gong, Milano and Gitardjamm, which are all brilliant compositions that have been regularly performed live. Sigur Ros are at the pinnacle of modern music as it stands. One can only hope they can invent even higher pinnacles for themselves. Sigur fans can anticipate nothing but this.
Description of Sigur Rós
Limited double 180gm Direct Metal Mastering vinyl pressing of this 2002 album from the Icelandic band. Remastered direct from the original master and pressed on heavy weight vinyl audiophile discs. This release is strictly limited and housed in a plastic wallet. Fat Cat.Are Iceland?s Sigur Rós the saviors of 21st-century rock or true heirs to the silk-robed-and-platform-booted, pompous progressive rock of the '70s? On their third album (first for a major label), they are a little bit of both. The group continues to mix the most interesting aspects of U2 (the anthem), Low (the maximalist slow-mo thing), Radiohead (the utter lack of irony in the quest to make meaningful art for stadium crowds), and My Bloody Valentine (guitar as texture), while not sounding like anyone else on this planet. The average song length on the eight untitled tracks is eight minutes, with cascades of moaning, bowed guitars colliding with low-end keyboards while the lovely, alien-registered vocals of singer Jónsi float on top. Dynamics are employed spectacularly, but half of the album is spooky soundtrack music that never really goes anywhere. However, the actual songs on Two Sausages Kissing (or whatever you want to call it)--the third, sixth, eighth, and especially fourth tracks--are mind-blowers, spectacularly worth the price of admission. If they just stopped trying to reinvent the wheel all the time, Sigur Rós could really be a band for the ages. --Mike McGonigal
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