Sigur Rós

For a band that's built a nearly decade-long reputation on being inscrutable—at the risk of flirting with formula as their catalog has grown—Sigur Rós show their capacity to surprise right from the start of Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. Even the very name of their opener, "Gobbledigook," pokes fun at the band's unwieldy titles and their invented Hopelandish language, which Jonsi Birgisson typically sings in an ethereal falsetto. He sounds unusually sprightly on "Gobbledigook," and the track's galloping percussion underscores the band's desire to break out of their shell. The cover art even features naked youth racing off to play–and the translation of the title involves infinite play.

The good vibrations continue with "Inní mér syngur vitleysingur"–and while it's not exactly Mastodon or Slipknot—one has to imagine that drummer Orri Páll Dýrason enjoys stomping his way through the poppy piece. Like much of the band's work, it's fleshed out with an array of instrumentation, the sort of song that seems built for performing with a philharmonic. But the runtime is brisk, and the melodies are warm and accessible.

From there, the album proves to be an intermittent departure, rather than a complete departure, but the variance makes the epic and orchestral numbers make more of an impact; taken away from the context of the album and listened to independently, however, tracks like "Festival" (which flirts with the ten-minute mark) feel too predictable, and not as powerful as many of their predecessors. "Ára Bátur" and "Festival" plod prettily along until their inevitably soaring crescendos; like leading post-rock instrumentalists like Mono and Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Rós are shackled somewhat by the limited range of possibilities. "Ára Bátur" sounds beautiful but gets almost satirical with its majesty-on-steroids finale. On the other end of the spectrum,"Íllgresi" and the brittle, piano ballad "All Alright" (sung in English!) are about as sparse as anything the band has done to date.

—”Adam McKibbin”
07.21.08