the edinburgh evening news
sigur ros are a shy, enigmatic, four-piece indie band from iceland. that may sound
ordinary enough but they are also, in fact, the second most successful music act to
come from that arctic country, behind the inimitable bjork.
and the band have a lot in common with the wee icelandic pixie of pop. for a start, they are well weird. their sound, though based around a conventional line-up of drums, bass, guitar and keyboards, is otherworldly, ethereal and strange. their debut album, aegetis byrjun, was evidence enough of that when it came out two years ago. a wonderful and unique blend of post-rock soundscapes and high, dreamy vocals, it was like nothing else that any other band was doing at the time (or since).
while they were moderately successful here, they were stars in their homeland, and the album also went down a storm in the states, winning awards and plenty of celebrity endorsements from the likes of macy gray, beck and dave grohl [erm.. not to mention brad pitt, madonna, tom cruise, david bowie, gillian anderson, moby, metallica, red hot chili peppers, etc.].
but it's not just the band's sound that's strange. lead singer and guitarist jonsi birgisson sings in his own made-up language - hopelandish. And plays his electric guitar with a violin bow. and even sings into his guitar at times. which really has to be heard to be believed.
and while we're on the subject of weirdness the band's new album, their second international release, is called simply ( ). yes, just a pair of brackets. and it's got eight songs on it, none of which has a title. well, that's how the story goes, but for the sake of roadies around the world they had to be christened in some way, if only so the setlist isn't just a blank bit of paper.
last night's gig wasn't quite the enigmatic experience it might have been, but that doesn't mean it wasn't spellbinding at times and pretty awe-inspiring all round. starting slowly with new song vaka, it was clear that sigur ros are easily capable of moving into a more orchestral direction than their already sumptuous debut hinted at.
with minimal drums and bass, the sound was filled out by the four-piece female string section, the amina strings.
underneath a gigantic projection of a sombre face, the song built around a hypnotic keyboard part, as birgisson wailed away in a bizarre falsetto that sounded like whales mating in space - or something.
clearly confident, two more new tunes followed, fyrsta keeping up the classical feel and the instrumental samkeyti seeing the first introduction of birgisson's bow-guitar sound. after that somewhat seducing intro, it was actually a shock to hear some loud drums, and when they clattered in half way through older tune ny batteri, it really made you jump.
from that point in, though, the crowd was in thrall to the wonderful noises being created on stage. biggest cheer of the night inevitably came for the nearest thing the band have to a hit, svefn-g-englar, which appeared on the vanilla sky soundtrack.
and as they finished in a mad wall of noise with another new tune, popplagith,
the sell-out crowd shouted for more, but had to make do with just a theatrical bow
rather than the usual indie gig encore. a perfect end.
(doug johnstone)
the scotsman
ambient icelandic chaps sigur ros don't write songs, they build soundscapes. but that
hasn't stopped them racking up a number of celebrity fans in the us where they are
the moody, post-radiohead band of choice to put on your film or tv soundtrack.
theirs is music to get lost in privately, rather than to enjoy as a communal experience but, despite being the anti-oasis, they generated a warm, relaxed atmosphere at this show with their lyrical piano pieces, plangent basslines and singer jonsi birgisson's pure, skyscraping vocals. like the cocteau twins' liz fraser, he has developed his own vocal language which, thankfully, is not perhaps as precious as the idea may suggest.
however, their guitar-centred tracks were more mundane and aimless, and their blurry
back projections were a wasted opportunity. even the rather corny effect of light
refracting off a glitterball was more visually arresting than the band's mild stage
presence.
(fiona shepherd)
