Sigur Rós
Valtari

End of May 2012. "Valtari", the sixth studio album by Sigur Rós, is released.

The album is in stark contrast to the previous one "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust", where the Icelandic band had moved towards more accessible sounds in the first half hour. Some have compared it to their album ( ) (Untitled) released 10 years earlier, but there are significant differences. Both are very, very slow, with certain exceptions, but the first is a dark, pessimistic slowness, while "Valtari" is, as bassist "Goggi" describes, "A slow-motion avalanche", slow, intimate, but optimistic; it's like living a 54-minute dream. The 4 elves start experimenting again in an environment that may recall previous works but is at the same time hard to equate with them.

"Ég anda" is the album's introductory piece, a wife waiting at the harbor for her husband's return as the dawn breaks, then "Ekki múkk" evokes a sense of emptiness, where one senses an almost alien calm, spatial, with a tension that struggles to rise, though present, "Varúð" erases all of that with one of the most beautiful tracks on the album, a continuous crescendo, detached from the rest of the album, an outburst, certainly the track I would most recommend to an outside listener. "Rembihnútur" returns everything to calm, slow, starting with an intro that may remind an attentive ear of the eponymous track of "Takk..." a piece reminiscent of that previously mentioned album's atmospheres, then "Dauðalogn" takes your breath away, a song with dreamy atmospheres, accompanied by the wonderful voice of frontman Jonsi, who will leave the album after this track. A song that takes your breath away. "Varðeldur" is the first of the last 3 tracks on the album, all instrumental. This represents a new version of Lúppulagið present in the live album "Inni". Characterized by a repeating piano note loop, it may remind you of tracks from previous albums, like Samskeyti, but its uniqueness lies in its constancy, flatness, where any slight variation is immediately noticeable, fitting the album's theme. The title track is also slow and dreamy, a child learning to fear the sea, the calm before the storm. However, the storm does not occur but the album fades out with the last instrumental track "Fjögur píanó", an acoustic piano piece that finishes the work just as it began, this time the husband sets sail again and the wife watches him fade away into the horizon.

Dauðalogn and Varúð are the essential tracks of the album, but they should not be isolated. It's like a single flower. It is born, nourishes, breathes, remains still, and finally loses its petals slowly...

I suggest listening with your eyes closed.