Recent Listening #1 - ( ) by Sigur Ros

I started getting into Post-Rock fairly recently, and the band that was at the top of many post-rock lists was Sigur Ros. Hailing from Iceland, Sigur Ros are, from what I can tell, one of the most highly-regarded post-rock bands ever, with their album Ágætis byrjun particularly noteworthy.

So of course, I listened to that album first and I loved it. The soothing atmosphere and beautiful pulsating sounds appealed to me a lot. Starálfur is probably my favourite from the album and thanks to the soaring violins and beautiful vocals it's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.

But enough about that album, I'm here to talk about ( ). In their infinite wisdom, Sigur Ros decided "Why not make an album called ( ) and have all the songs be untitled. While we're at it why don't we make all the lyrics nonsense and not a real language?" It sounds utterly ridiculous but it works! Instead of needing to deal with lyrics, this stylistic choice allows Jonsi's (the singer) vocals to act more as an instrument to add to the instrumentation of the songs. I love it.

( ) is divided into two halves; the first half (consisting of tracks 1-4) is softer and calmer, focusing on soft textures and soothing atmospheres while the second half (tracks 5-8) is a bit heavier and rockier, and has more traditional rock and post-rock elements (some of the first half could probably be called ambient),

Track by track thoughts:

Untitled 1 - Vaka

A very depressing song, definitely makes me sad at the start. I love the explosion of music near the end of the track, gives a beautiful progression from depressing to triumphant/uplifting. Beautiful song.

10/10

Untitled 2 - Fyrsta

More melancholic than depressing like the last song, Fyrsta is, of course, beautiful (I'll be using that word a lot). The sort of 'whine' that is present throughout the majority of the song is interesting, and I don't really know what I think of it. It's very pretty but a little irritating at times. I love the bit (at 5:05 for example) where the vocals and violins (are those violins?) soar and fall back down.

10/10

Untitled 3 - Samskeyti

This completely instrumental track is probably my favourite. While it could be considered repetitive I love the way it builds and builds with a simple piano loop playing over and over with different bits in the background being introduced over time. The moment at about 4:45 when the piano bit changes slightly to higher notes is incredibly effective and gets me every time. One of my favourite songs ever.

10/10

Untitled 4 - Njósnavélin

I don't have many thoughts on this track, it's just fantastic like the previous ones.

10/10

Untitled 5 - Alafoss

Again not too many thoughts here. The buildup isn't as perfect here, but I love the climax.

9/10

Untitled 6 - E-bow

E-bow has some great guitar playing throughout and finishes with an incredible explosion which has a lot of layering parts. E-bow is also notable for its name (all these names are unofficial names from the band, they're all still untitled), as an e-bow is used on the bass in this song.

10/10

Untitled 7 - Dauðalagið

The longest song on the album, Dauðalagið (the death song) is probably the heaviest and darkest song on the album with dynamic loud and quiet parts throughout. Not among my favourites, but still fantastic.

9/10

Untitled 8 - Popplagið

This song is a bit like two songs in one. The first half is soothing and calm while the second half is a lot heavier and bombastic. I love when the drum section starts up in the middle of this song and how the vocals and guitars are brought in as it builds up. It gets more and more frantic as it goes on and it ends with some brilliant all-out drumming

10/10

As you can probably tell, I absolutely adore this album and it's one of my new all-time favourites.

On Youtube

On Spotify

Edit: I think I'll be renaming these to just 'Album Review'

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