Sigur Rós
Ágætis Byrjun

THE REVIEW

After a brief intro, which is nothing more than a piece of the title track played backwards, you will find yourself in the magical and mysterious land of Sigur Ros, Iceland. With "Svefn-G-Englar", a ten-minute mini-suite, elves and fairies will populate the environment where you are listening to this masterpiece. All the tracks are characterized by a long duration and a dreamy and mystical progression.

Strings and piano open "Staralfur" and as with all the songs, Jonsi's very distinctive voice (many have mistaken it for a female voice) captures attention and leaves you almost hypnotized. Despite the bold choice to sing in their native language, the entire work does not suffer and, indeed, it gives a strange aura to this second album of theirs. "Flugufrelsarinn", "Ny Battery" (also released as a single), and "Hjartad Hamast" steal the central part of the work before arriving at the other mini-suite "Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa". Here too a calm and seemingly endless start unfolds over a carpet of strings, piano, and percussion before rising with a climax and concluding in a thunderous roar. "Olsen Olsen" with its captivating bass line and a transverse flute that characterizes the central part of the piece leads us to the end of the album with the title track and "Avalon," an instrumental piece, a sort of outro, dark and electronic.

The album dates back to 2000, even though in Iceland it was released about a year earlier, and in my opinion, it is still very current.