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$12.99 CD
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$9.99 MP3
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SIGUR ROS
Valtari
(XL)
 "Varud"
"Valtari"
With Sigur Ros' last full-length, 2008's Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust, finding these Icelandic soundscapists flirting with almost conventional song structures, and then lead-singer Jonsi maintaining this sort of sunny pop trajectory on his solo album Go from 2010, many fans might have been expecting the group to continue down a similar path on the long-awaited Valtari. It's a bit of a surprise, then, to find their first new recording in four years a return of sorts to the elegant, free-floating melancholia of earlier records like Agaetis Byrjun or ( ), when the band's dramatic, slow-building orchestration and Jonsi's otherworldly falsetto were enough to induce fainting spells in concert audiences. There is, however, a much more prevalent sense minimalism being utilized; here, the swelling beds of synths and strings, sparkling piano, and ethereal atmospherics move at a quiet, glacial pace, lulling the listener into a dreamy state of catharsis, and more often never reach the soaring climaxes that the band previously turned into an art form. Consider that Valtari's last two songs, the title track and "Fjogur Piano" (totaling 16-plus minutes of the album's run time), are beat-less instrumentals, the latter reminiscent at points of Brian Eno's late-'70s ambient works. Needless to say, this is a patient listen, but the rewards are fantastic; the haunting Gavin Bryar-esque atmosphere created from slow weeping strings, metallic clanks and the chimes of a clock preclude a celestial crescendo for Jonsi's gorgeously alien croon during opener "Eg anda," while the six-and-a-half minutes of "Varud" ebb and flow in a reverb-heavy shroud of chamber instruments before reaching a rapturous, hair-raising ascent of cascading guitars, drums, and a choir of vocals. These epic moments may be few and far between, but they are perfectly placed and these grand emotions silently inhabit the quiet ambience of the rest of the record. It makes for an album that needs to be played from start to finish in order for one to fully immerse themselves, and you'll want to, as the beautiful, mysterious worlds that Sigur Ros conjure on Valtari are spell-bounding. [GH]
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