( ) [CD]

...is two adjectives that come mind for this record. This was my first exposition to Sigur Rós. And on first listen, I was rather bemused. No really I was, the first time I listened, I am not sure I knew what to think, It didn't really make any sense, to the point where it stayed in dark deep bottoms of my CD cupboard until a few months later. Indeed I thought I had made terrible mistake, buying it, after all what attracted me that strange afternoon in HMV, was the beautiful packaging. And Indeed it is beautifully packaged, a crystal white slip case, with paranthesis cut out, covers the jewel case, which itself has just contains blank book of black and white artwork on what I can only describe is soft parchment. You could say it is represenation of what is to come, once you slip it into your cd player. The sparse emptiness of the packaging is certainly a visual metaphor, for the dark empy heavy drones that precede on the album.

Having put the CD on few months later, I finally began to appreciate these were more than ramdom drones, but evocative emotions that transcended language barriers. The album is divided into two parts seperated by a 30 second silence after track 4. It begins with "untitled 1" or "vaka" as known as its known by its working title, which starts off with a desolate piano intro. A feeling of disconnection and emptiness is what drives the both halves of the album, sparse drum beats float, while Birgissons "hopelandic" falsetto coo's lonely in a gaseous depth strings and other instruements. The second half is rather more aggressive, and definetley more heavy, with the guitars coming through more clearly particularly as the band descend into "untitled 8" (Popplagið"), which has the most unhinged and what I can only describe as the most narcotic drumming climax I have ever heard. Overall this album is definately a slow burner, and is not for the unadventurous, its not an easy album to like and probablly won't win over many new Sigur Rós fans, but it is in my view the most powerful and evocative of those in Sigur Rós' discography so far.

Highlights...

Its hard to really point out highlights in this album, as it is really concise and so well balanced, "untitled 4" and "untitled 8", definitely stand out, but otherwise this album is made to be, and is best heard so, all the way through.

I bought Ágætis Byrjun on the strength of a comment by some notable musician who I forget. I played it to death and loved it. So I bought some others and its () that has stayed in the car player ever since. It has just continued to grow and tastes a little different every time. It is very possibly the best album I have ever heard, contains no fillers and stays comfortably the right side of weird, unlike Von, which does get a bit much at times. After reading the other reviews, I think that to analyse the structure and meaning of it all is quite pointless. Just listen to it and take it for what it's worth. I'm sure that's what they want us to do. NO band in history does a slow build up quite like these guys and the ultimate directionless of most of the tracks is just part of the attraction. The new album, Takk, is good, but this is better. Buy it now and change your life.

First of all, don't be scared that it will be depressing. It's dark, emotional and immensely powerful, is what it is. This isn't an album to share headphones for at the bus stop, or put on shuffle on your MP3 player with any other tracks. Possibly the only way to do it is listen to the whole thing, in order, in bed in the middle of the night when no one else can hear you. Or maybe on a plane. Or sitting up a tree in a forest after a long bike ride, where birdsong can add to it. They say you're meant to write your own lyrics on the ethereal pages of the booklet (be careful taking this out - it's fragile), and maybe I will one day, but at the moment I'd rather just do so in my head. Everyone on Earth should listen to this album at least once, and then they might just relax even for an hour and a bit. Track 8 is possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The only problem I can find is that of how to recommend it to your friends - I mean, how do you say it?