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| Track List: 1. Intro 2. Svefn-g-englar 3. Starálfur 4. Flugufrelsarinn 5. Ný Batterí 6. Hjartað Hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm) 7. Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása 8. Olsen Olsen 9. Ágætis Byrjun 10. Avalon Running time: 71 minutes Released: 1999 |
The cover image for Ágætis Byrjun is brilliant.
On reflection, having already listened to ( ), I think this is probably my favourite Sigur Rós recording. Brackets has Popplagið and Samskeyti which really stand above the rest, but if I recall correctly the standard on Ágætis Byrjun is more consistent than anything that preceded it or has followed since. Time to see whether that is anything like correct, or just another case of my mind playing tricks on me.
OK, so the intro is immediately discounted, but Svefn-g-englar - whalesong comparisons though there may be - is a fine track. The reverb on the bass, the space the sonar-like pings allow, the floaty vocal... they are all loose constituents, but somehow bind together fantastically. With its long play time, the song - like the album as a whole has time to build. It manages to do so slowly despite never really introducing much instrumentation. There is a masterclass in minimalism here, until the 6 minute mark when it spikes briefly before returning to its prior pattern. Somehow, without any great changes, the tune manages to keep the listener interested over 10 minutes. I still cannot quite see how that works.
This is a long album at 71 minutes for 9 tracks and an intro but where some of that length might feel a chore, this does not. Starálfur immediately introduces more arrangement - keys and strings providing counterpoints. I like the keyboard line and I have a mental image of a scene from Heima where this is played on an upright piano in an empty hall... but I think it is an incorrect memory, conflating the visual with a different piece of audio (actually I think it is the title track from this album I am thinking of). What astounds me on this listen is how each of the first 3 tracks (intro still put to one side) are very different. Different styles, completely different arrangements and tone. The only thing consistent is the craft and how that hooks you. Flugufrelsarinn is more expansive, richer, louder but in a very controlled and understated way. It is my favourite of the three, touching my soul in some way I cannot quite describe.
I am listening on a night when I was hoping to be busy, but an overrun at work nixed my evening plans. I did not really feel like sitting and writing something when I began this - instead feeling obligated after wasting yesterday evening. Sigur Rós are the right sort of band for me in this mood - no kind of chore and quietly but powerfully uplifting. That said, I feel the quality dips with Ný Batterí - it just feels like it is lacking something compared to what has gone before... until it has built, and then it almost gets too much at once, presenting a slightly muddled sound rather than the clearer, more sculpted efforts of the earlier tracks. It reminds me a bit of some Scandinavian jazz at points, particularly the trumpet in the outro to the song, and whilst that is no bad thing, it is another different tone that jibes a little with the mood already established.
I love what comes next. Breathy, whispered vocal over a soundscape of a repeating riff, reverb and some carefully placed and monitored keys giving way to a cavernous expansive chorus (I guess?) before contracting again. There is a lot to like in the contrasts of Bamm Bamm Bamm. I am enjoying this more than ( ) for sure.
It is only listening to things like this that I notice the intros and outros to some of the tracks evoke Sigur Rós' first album, Von - or again, my potentially flawed memory of it - with its crackly static noisescapes. As a whole album they were a bit much; as bits and pieces around the edges they are still unimpressive, but they cannot detract from the sheer splendour of the pieces they abut. The one that begins Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása is very quickly forgotten as it opens up into a thoroughly melodic track, again largely relying on piano and strings. I really wish I could play keys like this. I could never hack practicing back when I learned as a child, but the piano has the power to move me like no other instrument. The strings here tug the emotions too, but nowhere near as strongly as the keyboard-derived melody.
It is funny to think that Olsen Olsen is the only track on this album to use their melodic nonsense "language" because to me it has always sounded more like an actual song than the other tracks on Ágætis Byrjun. Strange what our preconceptions can do, eh? I put that down to a much more classical song structure to open with, even if that has broken down by the end somewhat.
The title track brings me back to loving their pianist - just gorgeous melodies even when it drops into minor keys. I find myself wishing the vocal was recorded lower so that it did not obfuscate the tune so much. I think I have a preferred version of this to come on a later disc but it is a fantastic song.
The one truly drab spot on the album is the closer. Avalon just does not work for me. The sounds are off, too sparse and the tempo too slow. It is slightly atonal in places to my ears, and after an hour of song after song that would stand out a mile on most recordings, this feels like a really weak and unnecessary end.
Still, I would say that my recollections of the album are pretty much in tune with the reality that I have just sat through, and that 15 years after it was released it remains a masterpiece in my perception. My general feeling, to be tested in much later listens, is that as they adapted to stardom Sigur Rós became less interesting (particularly post-Takk), but this second album is a sweet spot; a work to be thankful for.
OK, so the intro is immediately discounted, but Svefn-g-englar - whalesong comparisons though there may be - is a fine track. The reverb on the bass, the space the sonar-like pings allow, the floaty vocal... they are all loose constituents, but somehow bind together fantastically. With its long play time, the song - like the album as a whole has time to build. It manages to do so slowly despite never really introducing much instrumentation. There is a masterclass in minimalism here, until the 6 minute mark when it spikes briefly before returning to its prior pattern. Somehow, without any great changes, the tune manages to keep the listener interested over 10 minutes. I still cannot quite see how that works.
This is a long album at 71 minutes for 9 tracks and an intro but where some of that length might feel a chore, this does not. Starálfur immediately introduces more arrangement - keys and strings providing counterpoints. I like the keyboard line and I have a mental image of a scene from Heima where this is played on an upright piano in an empty hall... but I think it is an incorrect memory, conflating the visual with a different piece of audio (actually I think it is the title track from this album I am thinking of). What astounds me on this listen is how each of the first 3 tracks (intro still put to one side) are very different. Different styles, completely different arrangements and tone. The only thing consistent is the craft and how that hooks you. Flugufrelsarinn is more expansive, richer, louder but in a very controlled and understated way. It is my favourite of the three, touching my soul in some way I cannot quite describe.
I am listening on a night when I was hoping to be busy, but an overrun at work nixed my evening plans. I did not really feel like sitting and writing something when I began this - instead feeling obligated after wasting yesterday evening. Sigur Rós are the right sort of band for me in this mood - no kind of chore and quietly but powerfully uplifting. That said, I feel the quality dips with Ný Batterí - it just feels like it is lacking something compared to what has gone before... until it has built, and then it almost gets too much at once, presenting a slightly muddled sound rather than the clearer, more sculpted efforts of the earlier tracks. It reminds me a bit of some Scandinavian jazz at points, particularly the trumpet in the outro to the song, and whilst that is no bad thing, it is another different tone that jibes a little with the mood already established.
I love what comes next. Breathy, whispered vocal over a soundscape of a repeating riff, reverb and some carefully placed and monitored keys giving way to a cavernous expansive chorus (I guess?) before contracting again. There is a lot to like in the contrasts of Bamm Bamm Bamm. I am enjoying this more than ( ) for sure.
It is only listening to things like this that I notice the intros and outros to some of the tracks evoke Sigur Rós' first album, Von - or again, my potentially flawed memory of it - with its crackly static noisescapes. As a whole album they were a bit much; as bits and pieces around the edges they are still unimpressive, but they cannot detract from the sheer splendour of the pieces they abut. The one that begins Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása is very quickly forgotten as it opens up into a thoroughly melodic track, again largely relying on piano and strings. I really wish I could play keys like this. I could never hack practicing back when I learned as a child, but the piano has the power to move me like no other instrument. The strings here tug the emotions too, but nowhere near as strongly as the keyboard-derived melody.
It is funny to think that Olsen Olsen is the only track on this album to use their melodic nonsense "language" because to me it has always sounded more like an actual song than the other tracks on Ágætis Byrjun. Strange what our preconceptions can do, eh? I put that down to a much more classical song structure to open with, even if that has broken down by the end somewhat.
The title track brings me back to loving their pianist - just gorgeous melodies even when it drops into minor keys. I find myself wishing the vocal was recorded lower so that it did not obfuscate the tune so much. I think I have a preferred version of this to come on a later disc but it is a fantastic song.
The one truly drab spot on the album is the closer. Avalon just does not work for me. The sounds are off, too sparse and the tempo too slow. It is slightly atonal in places to my ears, and after an hour of song after song that would stand out a mile on most recordings, this feels like a really weak and unnecessary end.
Still, I would say that my recollections of the album are pretty much in tune with the reality that I have just sat through, and that 15 years after it was released it remains a masterpiece in my perception. My general feeling, to be tested in much later listens, is that as they adapted to stardom Sigur Rós became less interesting (particularly post-Takk), but this second album is a sweet spot; a work to be thankful for.
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