Sigur Rós
Takk...

Be careful my friends, because this is where clichés come to an end and rhetorical phrases stop, this is where hypocrisy and convenient discussions end, where preconceived notions and idle chatter cease. Here, you enter a strange place, in some peculiar part of the universe, in some strange and indefinable era. Here, you enter the temple, let's remove our hats and bow our heads.
This is where you are left breathless and speechless and must not make noise so as not to disturb the gentle and sweet whisper of the God of Music.

This is "Takk…" (the new gift from Sigur Rós) which for three days has left me here, immobile, incredulous, and speechless. The perfect synthesis between the lighter and more harmonious first-born and the darker and sadder second has given life to the perfect child, joyful and sweet and dark and violent all at the same moment.
It is an inescapable album, that runs after you and sooner or later it catches you, there is no illusion of making it, of escaping. It chases you, corners you, and then devours you.
It is music that goes beyond music, an inexplicable sort of spell that hides, behind an apparently simple and reassuring façade and a "normal" architecture made of "normal" chords and sounds, from bells to strings to trumpets, the ability to once again be surprising, unexpected, and splendid.

"Takk…" welcomes you gently, takes you into the magical forest, and will accompany you with its slow and sinuous soundtrack, with strange barely whispered words, with soft and reassuring sounds. Inevitably after a few minutes, you will already be surrendered and abandoned to enchantment. It is a path to follow, a road to something that will save us, follow it all the way even if you will never know where it leads, just follow it, the music will guide you.
There will be things to watch and listen to and at a certain point, a strange scrappy band will pass by. Then there will be time to reflect, to ask yourself questions about happiness and sadness and maybe about your own life, and suddenly there will be a need to run breathlessly and scream and then stop and stay silent waiting. And then start again.
There will be the white ice and the usual frost.

It is a magnificent journey this "Takk…", a lucid and spectacular dream, an experience to have.

But be careful, there are pitfalls within it, there are secrets. When you least expect it, bullets come from the dark, straight to the heart without escape. There are three almost hidden tracks, one after the other, three perfect songs that will tear your heart to pieces, that will split your soul in half and leave you lying on the floor in the dark unable to get up.

I took this journey with "Takk…" and since I returned, my heart is in pieces, and my soul is bleeding. I'm still lying on the floor but to tell the truth... it seems to me that I'm happy.