Sigur Rós
Hvarf / Heim

It's a blurred landscape that you find yourself gazing at when "Hvarf-Heim" unfolds before you. While I'm still trying to focus on the cover image, the CD is already starting to spin in the player. "Salka" seems to emerge precisely from the vastness of this image, a distant echo of guitars outlining a delicate arpeggio from which Jonsi's voice emerges wonderfully, peremptory yet gentle. Once again, it is immense emotion. The song goes on, the mind is transported far away, into ethereal sonic skies, and when, at the climax of the piece, the voice seems to blend with the instrumental echoes, you're already moved by the renewed beauty that Sigur can still convey. Awaiting the second track, those few seconds of silence reign, a waking from a dream filled with melancholy and passion.

"Hljomalind" is perhaps one of the most pop pieces the band has produced, yet even here you can't help but be fascinated by the splendid harmony that pervades the composition. One thing is certain, even Sigur has succumbed to some of the trends in contemporary pop-rock: emotional swings that elevate you from glacial calm to heart-wrenching progressions. "I Gaer" is perhaps the piece most characterized by all this: an electronic tinkling precedes a guitar that, like a rogue wave, overwhelms the light lullaby... and it's again that bow on an electric guitar creating those shifts of emotional masses that, like electric storms, strike the soul. But what I consider the masterpiece of the CD is this version of "Von" which already begins to meander within the soul with that marvelous blend of strings and a guitar, Jonsi's, that transcends itself. With this piece, Sigur returns more than ever to make "tears of gold cry in paradise"... a capacity to fill interior landscapes that leaves one astounded... a rift opens in me, and I plunge into an abyss of pure emotion. One of those pieces I put on repeat because I never want to abandon that vivid emotion that surges within. "Hvarf" closes with "Hafsol", a slow and inexorable progression towards peaks of hallucinatory beauty.

Still dazed from listening, I change CDs. Spinning now is "Heim", a collection of acoustic versions performed live in various locations around Iceland. Sigur demonstrates they are a band that retains the transcendence of their pieces even when these are performed in small pubs with traditional instruments, without any electronic contribution. Like the splendid "Staralfur", where you even hear an acoustic guitar, one of the most beautiful pieces in their discography, which, even without seeming to come from an enchanted world, still retains a magic that doesn't make you miss the original version; indeed, you're surprised to realize how truly the pieces of Sigur are splendidly simple; you're surprised to listen to a band that shows how simple it is to evoke emotion, how not necessarily is their magical sound attributed to electronic gimmicks or the like, how a few strings, the instruments of a common rock band, and much, much heart are enough to reach where many don't: into the heart of the human soul. The pieces go through "Vaka", "Agaetis Byrjun", until closing the work with two jewels like "Heysatan" and again "Von", this time in its acoustic attire. The second CD is over, but I'm already putting the first back on...

When I heard about the release of this work, mea culpa, I thought it was yet another commercial operation for the holiday season. Just a few unreleased tracks and mainly old pieces acoustically redone... after the sharp decline that had occurred with "Takk..." and now this pseudo-collection, I thought that one of the bands I had loved most in recent years had really reached the end of their line. Certainly, we're not at the wonders of "Agaetis Byrjun" and "()", no genius music, no innovation and experimentation, just simple and wonderful pop. But Sigur still manages to move, and in the end, that's what matters to me.

The objective rating is 4, but if I had to vote for what this band still manages to give me, I would have no hesitation; it would be a full 5.