Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Sigur Rós - Valtari review


I'll keep this quick and start by saying this, if you hear a more beautiful song than Ekki Múkk this year I'd like to hear it. I think I've written before about how I drifted away from Sigur Rós over the years and I found that my disinterest in them grew out of them becoming more conventional. Basically from Takk onwards, that album slipped into a conventionality which was both comforting but ultimately fruitless. I didn't listen to the band to hear Icelandic takes on pop music, I listened to them because I can remember the exact place I was sitting when I first heard Svefn-g-englar and remember thinking, Holy fuck, what is that? Happily, Valtari steps back towards the more exploratory roots of the band and sounds like it should be, an otherworldly exploration of inner space. Every cod music critic on the planet has their list of descriptors and superlatives for Sigur Rós but I find writing about how great this music is pointless. Somehow, it speaks to me in a very personal way, conjuring images and feelings that are very feel utterly unique - this isn't music to unify, it is music to get lost to and I sincerely hope that you do. This is a great record.

--

2 comments:

  1. Ok so I have only listened to this album twice but found it really dull. I'll go back in and give it another listen, though, starting with "Ekki".
    Meanwhile I thought you might be interested in the following phrase that someone typed into google to land on my blog today:

    "Sigur Ros music is too depressing"

    This is at least an improvement on "sax in bad", another popular search. How disappointed they must be when they arrive.

    x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, I think it definitely helps if you're in a downbeat or sad mood as I was when I listened to it - seems your google searcher wasn't far off the mark. Maybe you should imagine a three legged orphan kitten shivering in the rain in a dark alley, then put it on...

    At least your searches are interesting. My top three searches are:

    eet fuk
    gotye sounds like sting
    gotye sting

    No joke x

    ReplyDelete