Average Rating: 
Rating:  - What the heck does "ir sighon" mean?
Ahhhh - Iceland. Country of, well, ice. And snow. And.. more ice. And of course, Sigur Ros. This band creates a low-key, ether-tinged winterscape of sound, pleasantly droning through one slow groove after another with all the time in the world to burn. Their specialty is a dreamy haze of low-key ambience, carried along by unhurried drum beats and keyboards/organs that whip up an enveloping frost so oddly cozy that it can lull anyone to sleep. There are no actual songs, no titles, no band credits, no liner notes or pictures, nothing to pay attention to except the music itself. I don't care whether that's done in the spirit of true minimalism or plain laziness. The music.. for the most part.. is as lovely and enchanting as it gets.Within that basic sound, ( ) is a study in contrasts. The music ranges from dreamily simple to powerfully vast. Through one track it may sound like the background music of heaven itself (though I hope my own version of heaven leaves out those vocals), and suddenly the next track could jump right into disturbing-nightmare territory simply by changing into a minor key. For the most part the disc remains placid and beautiful (even if that beauty is tinged with a little gloom), but the closing track kicks everything into a grand crashing finale worthy of the finest classical symphony. In fact there's only one thing that holds back that fifth star for me, and it's the reason I can't wrap myself in this little cocoon of sound over and over without tiring of it. It's that one phrase.. "ir sighon." Maybe it's "eu-sa-yo" or "ee-sai-o" or something similar. During the passages throughout ( ) when he's singing, vocalist Jonsi uses that single phrase every seven seconds or so. I don't mind the idea of singing random gibberish without words, a-la the Cocteau Twins or Radiohead, but I dearly wish that Hopelandic (the given term for this odd vocalizing) consisted of more than those three stretched syllables repeated INCESSANTLY over and over.. and over.. and over. To be fair there are a few other stray sounds scattered around, but calling Hopelandic "a made-up language" is like calling the single word "go" a novel in its own right. Ahem. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Even with that hangup of mine (which anyone else may very well not even mind), that only describes roughly 20 minutes out of almost 72. The remainder is an impeccably beautiful soundscape, vivid and calming in equal measure. Listen while it's snowing outside, while reading through those early hours of the morning, or just while having some quiet time away from everything. It's a touching experience.
Rating:  - Not for the Musically Squeamish
This album is weird. Sigur Ros have created the kind of antimatter of bloated concept records with this one. The album is essentially untitled, as are all the songs; the packaging contains no writing aside from the band name written neatly on the front; the "lyrics" are in a made up language known as "Hopelandic," which basically means they're gibberish, which each individual listener is meant to interpret into whatever s/he wants. Ladies and gentlemen, this album is about nothing but the music itself.So what is the music like? Well, Sigur Ros, along with Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor! form the holy trinity of an emerging genre dubbed by some as "post-rock." This translates to long songs (the shortest of the 8 tracks on this album is over 6 and a half minutes) that are slow and drawn out (I'm talking like 20bpm here). The sounds sometimes seem very intimate and breathy, and at others, create vast sonic landscapes that leave the listener feel dwarfed and helpless. The instrumentation blends very well together, and creates rich sonic paintings, and the vocals are quite pleasing and blend like just another instrument. There is also a bit of a duality to this album, as the ( ) label somewhat suggests. The first half of the record creates a much softer, more uplifting aural picuture. The second half, on the other hand, is much more melancholic and feels far more cold and alien. Though it's really hard to pick favourites off a record like this, tracks 3 and 7 stand out in my mind, for whatever reason. Of course, an album like this is not for everyone, for sure. I suspect many casual music fans will be bored stiff or just plain weirded out by this; it would be very soporific to anyone looking for a catchy tune or even a traditional song structure. It's also not a record that one can just throw on at any old time; this album is a mood piece for sure. However, if you're feeling adventurous, grab a copy, turn off the lights, get some headphones and drift off to the strange, fantastical world of the Sigur Ros.
Rating:  - A work of sheer beauty that few can match.
Less orchestral than their previous album, Agaetis Byrjun, this new release from Iceland's Sigur Ros is just as gorgeous. Each track exceeds 6 minutes, which gives all the songs plenty of time to shift from haunting dirge to cacophonous roar while maintaining freshness and not falling into a formula. The stand out tracks to me are numbers 1 and 4 (they are all untitled). Sparse and repetitive piano and synthesizer patterns are enhanced by layers of feedback as well as gently plucked guitar parts, while singer Jon Thor (Jonsi) Birgisson's beautiful voice rides atop the heap. And I think it is the vocals that make Sigur Ros so truly unique and wonderful. While there are no shortage of bands that make beautiful, soaring music like Sigur Ros (see Godspeed You Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion, Mogwai, etc.), no other band utilizes vocals to such an effect. Jonsi's vocals are like another instrument, almost like a vocal synthesizer, that shift and flow to match the melody of the songs. If you love beautiful music than buy this album.
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