Description
After four full-lengths and a string of EPs of heaven-scraping pomp, Iceland’s Sigur Rs give about half of their new LP over to a much-needed change of direction, offering plenty of moments where they sound more spirited, looser, almost playful.In the near-decade since their 1999 breakthroughgtis Byrjun, Iceland’s Sigur Rs have made pathos their playground. For them, “little” is scarcely an option: Instead, they’ve built a career out of conjuring God-sized renderings of sorrow, fragility, and teary joy, rarely on a scale anything less than epic. They’ve done this instinctively and automatically, sometimes to the detriment of their compositions, leaving the impression that the songs are secondary vessels for spectacle. In the sense that they’re less concerned with intellectual honesty than they are with the overall visceral impact of the thing they’re creating, Sigur Rs are the Michael Bays of melodrama.
And certainly, about half ofMe su eyrum vi spilum endalaust(translation: “With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly”) constitutes a much-needed change of direction for Sigur Rs. Building on the gains made from 2005’s transitionalTakk, they deliver plenty of moments where they sound more spirited, looser, almost playful. The unifying element in these instances is brevity; from the tumbling, modest solo acoustic ballad “Illgresi” to the celebratory “Vi spilum endalaust”, some of the band’s best songs come when they consciously confine themselves to the pop format. You get the feeling that, on a past album, they might have let “Gan daginn”‘s acoustic guitar arpeggios and chiming bell tones waft around interminably.
Similarly, one of the album’s highlights is a major key summer song called “Inn mr syngur vitleysingur” which manages to squeeze some of the band’s hallmarks (parading horns, glockenspiels, and a stunning teardown and subsequent buildup) into a positively economical four minutes. The compression generally serves them well, forcing them to make choices they might not otherwise confront when there’s 10 minutes of real estate to occupy. Me suwas produced by Flood (U2, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey, Nine Inch Nails) and recorded, variously, in New York, London, Reykjavik, and Havana, a sure sign of a conscious attempt to shake up their methodology. (via Pitchfork)
Label: Krnk
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
Country: Europe
Reissued: 2021 / Original Release: 2008
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Post Rock
File under: Post Rock
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