Nature's soundtrack
By ADAM GOLD | July 18, 2006
Sigur Rós’s albums have always sounded like film soundtracks, so downloading the music sans video from their upcoming EP/DVD Sæglópur (due August 8 on Filter US) isn’t much of a stretch. The Icelandic orch-pop quartet have apparently “expanded” on past EPs Baba Tiki Dido and Untitled, though it’s hard to imagine tracks more minimalist than these. A sneak preview of the three new tracks (plus one from 2005’s Takk . . . ) is available at iTunes.Sigur Rós, “Sæglópur (Sæglópur)”
In case you missed the version on Takk . . ., they’ve reproduced it here and tacked on an intro that sounds like a cross between crickets and a wind-up doll. The opening melodic lines played on piano and bells build to an anthemic OK Computer-era-Radiohead climax, then fade to a slow and sugary outro.
Sigur Rós, “Refur (Sæglópur)”
More tone poem than song, this brief but elegant track is built on a haunting piano lick that vamps over a humming bass.
Sigur Rós, “Ó Fridur (Sæglópur)”
Ignore Jónsi Birgisson’s plaintive falsetto that enters around the three-minute mark and the piano, flute, and orchestral flourishes on this track sound like something from the next Sufjan album.
Sigur Rós, “Kafari” (Sæglópur)”
Clanging chimes and children’s bells give the impression of water droplets as they float above quivering accordion swells that fade into nothing. It’s the “good” kind of creepy.
Related:
Sigur Rós, Jónsi | Go, Sigur Ros at the Orpheum, More 
- Sigur Rós
Here, as on 2005’s Takk, Sigur Rós have chosen to distill their rapture epics into shorter, more accessible bursts of swelling beauty.
- Jónsi | Go
To the Sigur Rós fans still weeping over the band’s decision to scrap their latest full-length and take an indefinite paternity leave: dry your tears with Jónsi’s uplifting solo debut.
- Sigur Ros at the Orpheum
Well, having done the research, I’m warming to this Jonsi Birgisson — gay, blind in one eye, loves Iron Maiden, plays the guitar with a cello bow, and sings, when the mood takes him, in a made-up language called “Hopelandic.”
- Light Pollution | Apparitions
Light Pollution unabashedly endorse marijuana use: “How many glass pipes can you find in this picture?” the band ask under a press photo posted on their MySpace.
- Dance, Monkey!: Rob Crean
Rob Crean has secret talents
- Boston music news: November 3, 2006
Drop a 10-spot, walk into the Opera House this Wednesday at 7:30 pm, and you’ll find almost the entire line-up of headliners that played Bank of America Pavilion last summer.
- Screaming Masterpiece
Magnússon’s film fails to illuminate what this declaration of independence meant or how it was carried out.
- Doin’ it live
The winter concert scene’s got something for everybody, from Averi to Zakir Hussain. Okay, I couldn’t resist that bit of alphabetical hackery, but it’s true.
- Benni Hemm Hemm
The language of twee-dom knows no borders.
- The power of two
Marco Benevento started out like most Berklee pianists, shedding Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett solos and scrounging for side gigs.
- Northern neighbors
Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, is full of promising, undiscovered acts.
- Less
Topics:
Download
, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, More
, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Jonsi Birgisson, Less
