About

After four full-lengths and a string of EPs of heaven-scraping pomp, Iceland's Sigur Rós 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 breakthrough Ágætis Byrjun, Iceland's Sigur Rós 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 Rós are the Michael Bays of melodrama.

And certainly, about half of Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (translation: "With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly") constitutes a much-needed change of direction for Sigur Rós. Building on the gains made from 2005's transitional Takk, 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 "Við 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 "Góðan 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 "Inní mér 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. Með suð was 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)

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Label: Krúnk
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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