Tune-age Tuesday: Sigur Ros

Fall has settled in deeply in the Northwest. Today’s magic number was 54 marking both the high temperature and the wind speed of the storm that blew the last leaves off the trees. Sunset was at 4:36pm leaving twice as much dark as light these days.

Don’t get me wrong… I actually like the fall. Each year as the season turns I like to get out my favorite sweaters, I start to break out the pipe tobacco and my playlist turns to Sigur Ros.

I first heard Sigur Ros on KEXP, a local radio station. I remember driving along when Svefn G Englar I had never heard anything like it before.

First, as a guitar player, I was struck by the massive, bowed, wall of guitar sound. Second, I had a similar reaction to my oldest daughter, Trinity (5 1/2 going on 13), when she walked into my office when I was watching this video today. Trinity, who is pretty big fan of the band, said, “Where are the girls? All I see is boys and I know there is a girl singer???” Jonsi Birgisson’s vocals are unique to say the least. He has actually been quoted as saying, “It takes a real man to sing like a woman.” His clear falsetto cuts through the mix and people tend to either love it or hate it.

Sigur Ros’s music has captivated me for the last 5+ years ever since that day. There are many reasons I am so drawn to their music. Part of it is how they unite minimalist, art rock with classical orchestral influences. They are the only band that I have found that deeply engages with both worlds in a profoundly beautiful way. Part of it is their sense of dynamic. They take very simple musical motifs and build them into massive, emotionally evocative crescendos.

There is a depth and quality to their music that I have not found in many other bands. For this reason I can listen to their records longer than almost another modern band. It’s almost like I feel about certain classical works. I consistently find new things to listen to in their songs.

On the other side it’s hard to think of a more pretentious album concept than their third major release titled simply “( )”. As if the title wasn’t enough the songs are named “Untitled 1″, “Untitled 2″ and so on. To take it even further the whole album is sung in a made up, sing song language that Jonsi created named Hopelandic.

Such pretension is usually a major turnoff for me but their music is so hauntingly beautiful it doesn’t get to me. In some ways it may help that I can not understand a word that they say in either Icelandic or Hopelandic. Maybe if I knew exactly what they meant it would be a turnoff.

If you are going to check out any of their albums I would highly recommend Takk. They also have some very creative videos. Their video for “Untitled 1″ from the “( )” album won the best video award at the European MTV music awards. The video for Glosoli, one of my favorite songs from “Takk”, is also very interesting. You can see it in high quality here. Additionally they have recently released a new double album called Hvarf-Heim consisting of previously unreleased studio recordings and acoustic stripped down versions of some already recorded songs. They will also release a documentary film of a series of concerts they held in Iceland in the summer of 2006 called Heima.

Regardless of their intent, Sigur Ros had been blessed by the common grace of God with an extraordinary musical sense. They have been a profound influence on me and I praise God for their music.