November 8, 2007

Sigur Ros

Hvarf Heim

7 / 10 Nearly nine years on from their breakthrough ‘Agætis Byrjun’ the band who re-imagined glacial rock are back. But do we still care? With a whole new generation re-fashioning post-rock’s dreamscapes into something bolder, SR’s take on it has been in danger of seeming a little out of step. But one listen to ‘Hvarf Heim’ and that thought is banished away as though by a kiss from a fairy. This 2-CD collection of half acoustic versions of old tracks and half new material shows them, as always, standing in their own unique sonic space. Tracks like ‘Von’ find them encased womb-like by the twin disciples of singer Jónsi Birgisson’s otherwordly vocals and the guitar lines that are constructed with an almost classical sensibility. You’ll never see Sigur
Rós giving each other tattoos onstage, but their sound, which paved the
way for the likes of Bloc Party, is still pretty timeless.

Priya Elan

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