In the past, I've heard Sigur Ros' music described as 'mournful'. While I don't completely agree with that sumation, I suppose I do partially agree. Their music to me has always been tinged with a certain remorse, cautious optimism and joy. I suppose that 'mournful' can be joyful and celebratory, after all, you cannot mourn something lost that you did not love.
It is that experience of having loved that comes through to me in Sigur Ros' first few albums. This newest record is a bit of a departure, however. While it is ditinctly divided into two parts, split by a marathon of a tune in the middle. The first half of the record seems a little more accessible, upbeat and stripped down from their signature sound, while the second half retreats more toward it. The shame in all of this is that the quality of the songwriting doesn't equal that of their previous efforts, nor does the production. When listeners heard their the three relatively popular albums the band put out, it would sometimes leave them sonically baffeled, asking, "How are they ever going to pull this off live?" and the punchline coming when the band would assert themselves by doing just that, and with authority.
The bottom line here is that Sigur Ros has set extremely high standards for themselves with their previous efforts, and as an experiment, this album falls a little short, though it does provide a few new gems.
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