Sigur Rós

artist: Sigur Rós
track: Untitled 4 (a.k.a. “Njósnavélin” – The Nothing Song)
recording: ( ) (a.k.a. “Untitled” – 2002)

www.goyo.net/musicaluni/sr-u4.mp3

artist notes
Take some Pink Floyd, add some Arvo Pärt, sprinkle in some magic fairy dust, a few drops of blood, generous amounts of bowed electric guitar, choirboy vocals, glockenspiels and strings, place in a vat of morphine, baste at an arctic temperature, then simmer slowly for a week underneath a canopy of angel wings. You might end up with something resembling Sigur Rós. Since the band’s conception in 1994, this quartet of Icelandic magician-musicians (Jónsi, Kjartan, Orri and Georg) have been sculpting one masterpiece after another.

If the global elf community had a house band, it would be Sigur Rós.

By the way, did you know that there is an Icelandic Elf School (Álfaskólinn) in Reykjavík which teaches students and visitors about elves or hidden people in myth that are believed to inhabit Iceland? One theory is that the hidden people of Iceland are descended from Irish settlers who were living in Iceland when the Vikings arrived; evidently the Vikings tried to enslave this Irish population, many of whom escaped and have lived in hiding ever since.

AND, while only 4% of Americans believe in the existence of hidden people, 10% of Icelanders believe in the existence of elves or hidden people, and an even larger 90% of the Icelandic population “takes notice” of a shadow community. SEVERAL organizations in Iceland presently or have in the past employed a FULL-TIME folklore researcher to determine the impact of construction projects on hidden communities! (from Wikipedia.org, of course…) Fascinating.

Go and get copies of Ágætis Byrjun, ( ) and Takk and tell me that they are not three of the best music purchases you have made in the second half of your life. I promise that there is something on each of those recordings (they are VERY different) that will move you to tears. No message, no politics, no agenda, simply music. Lovely, lovely, lovely music.

recording notes
I know, I know, too many words already. In short, ( ) is a rapturous expression of the most melancholic day of Winter. It’s as subtle as rock gets. That’s it.

track notes
“Untitled 4″ is tenderness, grace and gratitude. It’s pure love.

(And by the way, don’t try and make sense of the lyrics, either, even if you speak Icelandic; all of the vocals on ( ) are “Hopelandic”, the invented language which Jónsi employs while composing (using his voice as an instrument). The sounds are ultimately mapped to Icelandic (with interesting results), but on ( ) they remain Hopelandic.)

As I said before, the elven house band…