Chris Beaumont

beaumont@ifa.hawaii.edu
2680 Woodlawn Drive
Honolulu, HI 96822

Reaching for Epiphany

Sigur Ros' "Hvarf-Heim" Review

The Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós released its dually titled album “Hvarf/Heim” (Haven/Home) on November 6. It is less a full studio work than a double EP, combining a few unreleased songs (the “Hvarf” part) with acoustic re-releases of older material (“Heim”).

Consisting of only five songs, the “Hvarf” side of the album lacks the fullness of the band’s earlier works like “()” or, more especially, “Takk…”. Those albums truly function as unified works, with recurring musical themes woven through multiple tracks. However, as individual songs, the five on Hvarf are as utterly gorgeous as anything Sigur Rós has released to date.

I Gaer, track three on Hvarf, is one of the more interesting new releases, and typifies the structure of a Sigur Rós song. The track opens with a soft, somewhat spooky musical phrase on a glockenspiel. This is the musical sentence that repeats throughout the track. About a minute in, the song ruptures into a slow, loud, cymbal saturated drum beat and moaning electric guitar. The guitar is Sigur Rós’ aural and, in concert, visual signature, as it is played by lead singer Jonsi Birgisson with a cello bow. The sound that this produces -- an unpunctuated electric howl -- is otherworldly, restlessly bifurcating into sad and euphoric phrases.

In typical Sigur Rós fashion, the rest of the song works on adding and removing musical layers to articulate the emotion developed in the opening minute. The swelling and fading of noise throughout the track is fluid, minimally structured, and potent. Birgisson’s androgynous falsetto vocals are unintelligible (the lyrics are combinations of Icelandic and Hopelandic, a language invented by the band to circumvent the traditional process of translating feelings into words) and function as another instrument. Succinctly put, the music is about expressing feeling as directly as possible. This seems like as good as any a working definition for profound art.

In an unconventional move, the covers on “Heim” are acoustic. This is gutsy, as much of the Sigur Rós sound is deeply electric. Understandably, these tracks are less aggressive than their original versions. Birgisson’s guitar is replaced by traditional stringed instruments to preserve its fluidity. Fortunately, the songs function well enough as subdued covers. Of these tracks, the acoustic version of “Von” is the best, as its sadness is amplified by its restraint.

If the “Hvarf/Heim” EP feels incomplete compared to the 2005 masterpiece “Takk…”, it’s only because this album is not meant to mark Sigur Rós’ 2007 artistic contribution. Rather, “Hvarf/Heim” is meant to introduce “Heima” (At Home), a documentary DVD scheduled for release on November 20 about the band’s free tour through rural Iceland. The footage from the trailer is spectacular. In retrospect, the idea of a Sigur Rós film – adding images to sounds – is so appropriate that I wonder how it hasn’t happened before now. I suspect that “Heima” may be the band’s greatest work, and eagerly await finding out on the 20th.