Part of this is certainly due to the arrival of Kjartan Sveinsson, a multi-instrumentalist who broadened the band’s orchestral scope, adding distinctive yet subtle touches that provide character and depth to each piece. Though Von received some critical acclaim in their native country, it wouldn’t quite herald their arrival like their second album. From the very beginnings of Sigur Rós, singer/guitarist Jónsi Birgisson was declaring to anyone within shouting distance that his music would change the world, and though that might be difficult to measure, I doubt there’s anyone who would now dispute that claim. Ben Folds, Blur, XTC, Fiona Apple, etc.), were not necessarily stretching the limits of convention. In 1999, I was very much mired in bands who, though putting out some of their most underrated material (e.g. Though it retained small elements of popular music convention, Ágætis Byrjun was like nothing I had ever heard before. Not only is this album, the first to see worldwide release, the record that made international superstars out of our four Icelandic avant-garde post-rock heroes, it is arguably one of the most groundbreaking, lush and transformative albums created in our lifetime. The name came about when a friend heard the formation of one of the first songs from the album, and said, in translation, “It’s an alright start.” The irony should be apparent. These are all incredibly terse titles (making the title of their most recent fifth studio album so unlikely), but the one that is the most understated is Ágætis Byrjun. Their fourth album was titled simply Takk…, translated as ‘Thanks,’ whose antecedent ellipses trail off as if at a loss for more words. Their third album didn’t even have a real title, it had punctuation marks, ( ), that seemed to encourage the listener to become lost in every piece of music between those parentheses. Their debut album was dubbed Von in their native Icelandic, which translates into English as ‘Hope.’ Never before has one word so captured both the sound and prophetic destiny of a band.
Up until their most recent album, I would have said that Sigur Rós are the true masters of understatement.
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