Sigur Rós - Sigur Rós
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Free Music Notes for Sigur Rós
Free Music Review: The Under Appreciated Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
If you think this album is ambient then you are not fully paying attention to it and are missing everything it really has to offer. ( ) really is the under appreciated masterpiece. If you simply listen to this album it will not grab you they way it will when you REALLY get into it. The thing that makes this album special are the LAYERS OF MUSIC delicately laced in. That is what makes this album unique and it requires multiple listens to find they layers... I listened to this album for over a year and still noticed little things in the music I didn't catch before. Take for example the first song... not the most interesting song structure in the world, just a simple piano melody. Yet the thing that makes this song so intresting are the tiny little sounds hidden in there. The soft echoing, sustained chants that drift softly in and out of the song, the stringed arrangements, ect. There are so many different and memorable sounds in each song and yet there is not enough to overwhelm you. Not many people like this album when they compair it to "Aqueatis" but it is NOT Aqueatis and it is something different and more unique while still sticking to their roots. Sigur Ros evolved by bringing their music down to a more simple level on this album and thats why I love it so much.
Who cares that the songs don't have names. I think the point the band was making was that their music is a representation of their souls and the fans souls because people who are big Sigur Ros fans connect with their music on a very deep level... so we don't need lyrics or song titles because they are what they are and it's beautiful! The music of Sigur Ros connects with certain people in a way few things ever can. I don't want to bring their music up to a religious platform but I am just trying to say that as people, Sigur Ros "gets us" and their music represents that.
Get this album but if you don't plan on giving if multiple listens then your really messing out on something special
Free Music Review: Otherwordly.
Hit: 5 Stars
Sigur Rós deliberately left not only all of the songs on this album officialy without title, but the album itself has no name. Their intent was to leave the focus on the songs. Unfortunately, this will backfire and the "pretentious" word will get thrown around quite a bit. Marketing and packaging (gorgeous) decisions aside, the music is simply sublime. Sigur Rós has been performing all of these songs for at least a year and half. Some have been around since 1999. The result is that their arrangements are extremely tight and polished. The songs have had time to be perfected. They've also had the time to see which songs logically segue into others. () plays as a long crescendo. Starting off with perhaps the quietest song, () twists and builds over 70 minutes.
Musically, the album isn't a great departure from Agaertis Byrjun. Minimal and immaculate percussion, pianos, vintage syntesizers, crystalline guitar, and Jonsi's falsetto vocals. On (), the songs are more unified and fluid. Its difficult to not listen to the album straight through. Despite is 70 minute length, () never becomes monotonous either. I can't even begin to pick a favorite individual song; they all have subtle, yet absolute distinctions that are impossible to weigh against eachother.
In essence, Sigur Rós continues to do their own thing. Not really comparable to anyone, or within any given scene. Its not music for everyone. Its hard to sing along to lyrics in a nonexistant language. the tempo usually falls somewhere below leisurely. The shortest song is six and half minutes. But if you fall in love with this music you're going to fall hard. There is little else in music right now which contains even a measureable percentage of the beauty in Sigur Rós' music. () will draw your last breath.
If you get the chance during November try to catch them live. Its hard to believe they can replicate the sounds they put on record, and yet they manage to exceed them.
Free Music Review: SIGUR ROS IS NOT PRETENTIOUS, THEY'RE JUST GOOD!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Having listened to this album countless times now, both awake and asleep, I have come to the conclusion that it simply cannot be compared to its predecessor, Agaetis Byrjun. The songs on this album take a less orchestrated, more minimalistic approach, using less of the traditional string section for backup. If you have never listened to this band before, be forewarned that they do not resemble anything even close to conventional music. The songs often go on for upwards of 13 minutes, with a not-so-cut-and-dry song structure. The songs reach from somewhere deep to present a sound that is beautifully textured and ethereal. The first half is like listening to a sunrise, while the second half is like being trapped in an ice storm with no electricity. The relatively simple instrumentation of 4 band members creates a sound that is irresistable and makes its listener happy to be alive. Sure, critics complain about the supposed "pretentiousness" of the band, but I don't consider it pretense at all. OK, so they left the CD booklet blank, left the album without a title, assigned no song titles, and sang in jibberish instead of Icelandic. So what? They are trying to convey the point that the music is all that really matters, and they encourage listeners to pick up a pen and fill in the blank pages with their interpretations of the lyrics. It's entirely listener-involved. Iceland has no problem understanding this; why do we? If you haven't listened to this fantastic band yet, and are looking for music that will truly live up to the word "music", I urge you to pick this or "Agaetis Byrjun" up. Sure, bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor and Silver Mount Zion have made ethereal, atmospheric music before Sigur Ros came around, but who cares? No one pulls it off quite like Sigur Ros, and no one will ever hear of those other bands anyway. Oh, and just for reference, Sigur Ros is pronounced "seer rose."Free Music Review: Sonic equivalence?
Hit: 5 Stars
It does not make any sense to compare ( ) to anything else because it really is not like anything else. Having been a fan since I first heard Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa, Sigur Ros' albums exemplify what music should be: sweeping, but at the same time, subtle...powerful, painting emotion without telling you exactly how to feel. It was an instantaneous love affair that began for me with Agaetis Byrjun, and it's not let up. The Hopelandic that Jonsi sings in pushes my mind to wander in terms that would be confined by english; hearing his voice tip toe across the repetition engraves images of innocence in my psyche, while conjuring notions of subdued joy.It's easy to see why so many people aren't able to "get into" Sigur Ros. Unlike fellow Icelandics Mum and Bjork (all amazing visionaries and musicians)whose strength lies in the ability to construct a palatable pop song, Sigur Ros is more concerned with atmospherics and mood. It's difficult to compare a song like Mum's "Ballad of the Broken Birdie Records" to anything on ( ) because they differ so much in terms of execution. That seems to be Sigur Ros' "problem." They don't know how to "get to the point." However, this seems to be one of the draws. The songs on ( ) burn so slowly that sometimes, it feels as if they stall, only to resume in magical time, perfect time, lending each note to a building intensity.
Standout tracks on ( ) include Vaka (Track 1), Samsyketi (Track 3), Njosnavelin (Track 4), The Death Song (Track 7) and the Pop Song (Track 8).
This world is one where conventionality is the norm and oftentimes the ideal. Sigur Ros' sound is unconventional, but it is magical, it is epic. Some people cannot understand Sigur Ros, but that never stops Sigur Ros from constructing beautiful music for people that do understand.
Free Music Review: Theropy
Hit: 5 Stars
I was first introduced to this group by the brilliant final scene in the movie, "Vanilla Sky," where the main character makes the decision to "jump" back into the real imperfect world from his taintedly-perfectly-fake-dreamworld he had been living in, and track 4 (my favorite) plays as it shows seemingly-misc flashbacks from humanity's past as he bails downwards off of a skyscraper heading like a missle for the concrete below, hell every time I see that scene I break down in tears. But that's what this album is, tear-therapy, if you want to examine the emotions within you beneath the surface and feel that you need a good cry, put on this cd. I might venture so far as to say it's especially therapuetic for survivors of abuse or those with PTSD, people deciding to or having already quit the government's drugs, and that sort of ilk out there.
Hopefully my review puts it in perspective as to why nowhere near everyone will cherish this kind of music. I'm a musician who has mastered the art for over a decade now but I've learned musicianship isn't about playing lightning-fast scales blazing up & down the keyboard or frets, that has it's place and all and I can do it but let's be honest, it's show-offmanship mainly used to dazzle audiences without much lingering affect in their souls. I've learned that music is more about what it can bring out in YOU the listner, and this cd will take you places within yourself in a real way. Thanks to this cd and some others I've found recently, psychotherapy is no longer necessary: "And how does that make you feeeeel?" It makes me feel like I need to put on some Sigur Ros and Sevin, doc, now please excuse me whilst from whenceto-heretoforth I find my headphones and take a nature walk far from your planet :)