Sigur Rós - Sigur Rós
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Free Music Notes for Sigur Rós
Free Music Review: An incredible experience
Hit: 5 Stars
In my opinion, the goal of music is to transmit emotion to the listener. To create a soundscape within the listener, so that the listener experiences more than just hearing. They feel the music. I am into ALL kinds of music from jazz to death metal, but none approach the ability to stir emotion like Sigur Ros does. I'm reviewing the ( ) album, but in reality I consider it to be equal to both Takk and Ágćtis Byrjun - all three being among the most incredible auditory experiences I've ever had.
This album is beautiful all the way through. As some others have said, the first half is a little more hopeful sounding, while the second half tends toward a somewhat darker sound. As with most albums, I have a few favorites - those being tracks 1, 4 and 8 on this album. Track 1 has a very innocent sound. If you watch the video (which you can find on youtube), you can get a better feel for the meaning behind the song. Track 4 starts off with the huge, spacey guitar part that quickly becomes ingrained into your mind. It's a really melancholy song that seems to sum up the feel of the first half of the album. Track 8 is one that I've really just recently fallen in love with. It starts off sounding almost as hopeful as the songs on the first half of the album, but about half way through it takes a drastic turn. The haunting sound of the vocals pulls you into a seriously intense few minutes that could be the soundtrack for the end of the world. In my opinion, those last few minutes of track 8 are the most incredible part of the entire album. It's really otherworldly.
As a last thought, I want to ask everyone who reads this to try something at least once. Get in the car. Windows up, rolling along down the interstate/highway as the sun sets (at the end of the work day is great for this). Track #8 cranked up loud. Relax (obviously this won't work in bad traffic). Don't lose focus from the road, but let the music take you. Let it be the soundtrack to your drive. I've done this countless times on the way home, and it is truly an incredible experience time after time. There's something about Sigur Ros. If you let it, it will create a feeling in the listener that in incomparable to any I've ever felt.
Free Music Review: []
Hit: 5 Stars
It's funny when you buy this with some friends or something, or someone visiting curiously looks at the cd with no title, no band name and no song titles, no writing on it on the side or front (if you take the slipcase off) , then they open the unmarked booklet only to find blank pages. The point of this is the focus is just on the music, nothing else is needed.It's awesome how the two halves are so different, almost like two entirely different cds. The music isn't really styleistically different, but the mood that is captured is almost like the two sides are two opposite magnetic poles. All the tracks seem to make me think of winter, this cd is better when it's snowing outside or at least snow on the ground. but "(" seems to feel like a happy event like ice skating on a lake on a wonderful winter afternoon, and ")" is on a sad, lonely night.
The tracks seem to have layers of depth - depending on how you listen to it, a certain song might sound very simple and shallow, but the next time you listen to it, it will have a lot of depth you didnt realize before. This is especially apparent on the second half because the songs might seem very bland and drawn out but you have to dive deeper into them.
"(" has more happy sounding songs. They feel very... Icy and joyful. Track 4 being my personal favorite. It is beyond brilliant. There are very ethereal melodies, (through the whole cd too) that i'm not going to try to describe any further. Instrumental Track 3 makes such a simple piano melody into something way beyond that.
")" is much different. the cute colorful little piano melodies have gone to sleep and replaced with weeping guitars and very melancholy songs. Even thought there is no lyrics you can really feel what the music is trying to say. These songs are generally longer and build more pressure, building up to that astounding end of the last song that sounds like it's the beginning of the apocalypse.
This is not Agaetis Byrjun and is a LOT different from it. Sigur Ros isnt going to repeat themseves. They are really doing something incredibly unique, and breaking way out of the musical paradigm we know of.
Free Music Review: My favorite CD. These are weighty words.
Hit: 5 Stars
I have a rather large library of music and have listened to much, much more music than I own. I spend at least 5 hours a day listening to music, and I love nearly every genre. Of course, the topic of "favorite album" comes up often in my mind, and for a while it was unclear. Shpongle's Tales of the Inexpressible and Radiohead's Kid A were usually battling for the top spot, but little did I know that the dark horse from Iceland would claim the prize.
To those who are unaware, yes the CD is essentially in "gibberish" (Hopelandic to be precise), yes it takes a while to grow on you, and no, it's not pretentious. This is not the "emperor's clothes" artsy coffee shop Pitchfork media record you buy to stay hip (although it could be). This is a beautiful, lush, and wonderful piece of art, an outer-wordly, artic journey, a soundscape to really savor.
() is divided into two parts, and none of the tracks have titles. The first part is the "soft" side; the second the harder side. The entire CD flows together, although the sides could be listened to seperately. Sometimes its hard to tell which song is playing, but it doesn't matter. It's one experience.
Thus, the key to () is not to casually listen to the album, but to intently experience it. If not for the whole album, at least during a song, really dive into the sound. Cleanse your mind, breathe away your thoughts on everything but the sound. No matter how many times you've heard the album, it will surely mesmerize you. I would recommend meditating to it; this is the way I listen to it now, although any close, personal listening of this album is worthwhile.
This CD is also great background music. Its sound is entertaining, beautiful and strange, yet not overwhelming; it spurs creativity rather than hinders it. The "gibberish" singing provides inspiration instead of clouding your head with words.
If you still aren't convinced enough to buy the album, download it, burn it, and listen to it for a week or two. I'm sure you've start the path to loving this strange and intimate album.
Free Music Review: ( ..speechless.. )
Hit: 5 Stars
Quiet simply...the album is amazing. I purchased it before a long drive to grad school and it will forever remind me of my dark drive down the highway. There is just something that stays with me after I heard this album for the first time. It's hard to explain, but you'll feel it. The vocals, though free from actual words, allow listeners to create their own meaning--to make them their own (something that is encouraged by the blank pages of the CD booklet). And though I'd like to avoid the cliché, I can't--it reaches out and touches you.Comprised of eight tracks, each of which is untitled, the album is divided into two separate parts. The first four are what I consider to be the "dawn" or "awakening". Their ethereal presence, soft vocals, and dream-like melodies are often so subtle they seem to evaporate into thin air. It is this ability to make memorable music that doesn't stand out which marks the return of ambient music to its rightful place. As Brian Eno first did, Sigur Ros now continues the task of creating music that is heard but not listened to. Quite simply, these first four tracks are the soundtrack for our thoughts when we're not thinking.
If the first half of the album is the innocence, the last represents the "dusk" or dark side of our conscious. Though subtle in part, this half of the album carries listeners to the edge of their thoughts with elaborate builds and then, suddenly, sets them free with crashing crescendos, pulsating drums, and guitar work that continues where Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" left off. Not to slight the other members of the band, but it is in this half of the album that Jónsi's haunting vocals truly shine. So angelic yet emotional, his voice, his "words" are universal. All races, religions, and cultures can be and will be touched by this man's outpouring of emotion. And such is the unique beauty of this album. Every bit as good as its predecessor Agaetis Byrjun, this album allows listeners to step out of reality, to step out of the box and into the ( ).
Free Music Review: Enthralling and beautiful magnificence.
Hit: 5 Stars
A sonic, hypnotizing array of astonishing music... Sigur Rós have put together a masterpiece of art. The concept (or lack of) surrounding the album is part of what makes it so incredible: No album title, no track titles, gibberish lyrics, and blank CD booklet. They realized in past albums that different people from all over the world had quite a variety of perceptions of their music. Music speaks to its listener; words are not needed. Therefore Sigur Rós suggests that the listener does exactly this: Make up your own meanings and lyrics. With that out of the way, though, does the music really back it up? My answer to that is, of course--Yes. Describing the music to someone who has never heard Sigur Rós is difficult. They're a four piece band that has an elegant usage of a guitar strummed with a cello bow, euphoric bass, and outstanding pianos and drums. Listening to it can best do the music sounds, obviously. At first it sounds like a space-rock band, but as the music transpires, it becomes so much more.
For those who have heard Sigur Rós, the music on ( ) is a less polished than Ágćtis Byrjun, which could be looked at as positive or negative depending on your taste. I saw it as a positive. It's more fitting for this album in specific, as well. Another high point about the album is how fluently it progresses between tracks. You can sit and listen to the album completely mesmerized, and time seems to stop. The piano usage on ( ) is some of the most beautiful I've ever heard, especially on tracks 1 and 3. Track 5 is like an inclining roller coaster in slow motion which lifts you higher and higher until its majestic end. The album's string usage is also very well done and fitting to the music. I could go on for days describing how wonderful the songs are in words, but it would never surpass actually listening to it. From the stunningly beautiful track 1 to the jaw-dropping track 8, the music never fails to entrap the listener in a superb flux of loveliness and fascination.