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| Track list: 1. Approach/Dream 2. Memory 3. The Black Dog and the Scottish Play 4. Degradation 5. Over the Bend 6. Colours 7. Journey to the Underworld 8. Shave 9. On the Road 10. Another Memory 11. Relapse 12. Coma 13. Schillar in China 14. Helpless 15. Te Morituri 16. Bíum Bíum Bambaló 17. Death Announcements and Funerals Running time: 41 minutes Released: 2001 |
I have the UK version of this, with English track listing. The album is 15 compositions by Hilmarsson and 2 numbers from Sigur Rós on the end. It is a soundtrack to a film I have not seen bought, predictably, because Sigur Rós are mentioned.
That said, I do have music by other Icelandic composers (Ólafur Arnalds has already come up in this project) so whilst I cannot claim familiarity with Hilmarsson there is a good chance I may be interested in his material too. The total time is very short for the number of tracks, with only a few going above 2 minutes... I wonder what magic can be woven in these short pieces.
The opening is fairly dark, not angelic at all, but it opens up after about a minute into a gentle guitar melody and supporting strings which between them craft a nice light space, if a sad one, the guitar sounding mournful and lonely. It closes by drawing in the dark again. Memory... it is as if we have lost ours. New track, very very similar guitar theme, same sort of effect and arrangement. The overall tones here are sombre, moody but touched with a light brush. The guitar of early tracks recedes in later ones in favour of string leads. There are hints of electronic or synth tones too, becoming major features in places; Over the Bend features clicks and percussive electronics quite strongly, meshing this with the string lament. I am not quite sure the combination really works as executed but it is a nice idea before the whole track melts away into weirdness.
This is a soundtrack album, which explains the number of tracks and their breakpoints which, as with Approach/Dream and Memory, do not always make sense or lead to strong similarities between different tracks. It also strengthens the thematic connection, the loneliness and the sombreness, but along with them the sense of a big wide sky and a whole lot of nothingness. I guess that is Iceland for you.
At times the strings get piercingly sharp (I dislike the end of Journey to the Underworld, for instance) but mostly they are rich and deep, enveloping and warm. None of these positive traits manages to oust that singular feeling of being alone in the middle of nowhere though. The visuals I imagine for each track are probably a million miles away from what they actually accompany in the film and I am sure if I had the context of the pictures they partner then the inferences and themes that I took away from listening would be different. How far removed though, I wonder?
Another Memory, a call back to the same theme we heard earlier. Generally I like call back as a technique - particularly in stand up comedy. Musically it is something that can only work when listening to a work in its intended order, so I suspect it will become rarer and rarer going forwards. Concept albums, discs designed to be listened to through and through in order, these things have less place in the modern "download what I like, shuffle everything" world. That is a bit of a pity, though I hold my hand up as being as guilty as anyone of shifting to the new model with regards to home listening. Every so often I will get a hankering for something specific, or endeavour to build a playlist for a certain themed use, but shuffle is far simpler and quicker to get to, even taking all the skipping into account.
I have reached Schillar in China now - through the middle section there have been a couple of tonic shifts, a little more percussion here and there, but it has largely kept the same themes and patterns. I expect a shift for the last two tracks (since Sigur Rós apparently handed over completed tracks for the soundtrack rather than composing songs anew), but the Hilmarsson material has been very consistent on the whole. I like it - though I cannot say I would listen to much of it by choice unless I was specifically in the mood. It does scratch an itch I have though: film scores are great for exposure to more classical composition, something I have never managed in satisfactory manner through other means, much to my own limitation.
According to Eighteen Seconds Before Sunrise Bíum Bíum Bambaló is a take on a traditional Icelandic lullaby. I am a little surprised at how well it fits into Hilmarsson's theme. I should not have been, really - it is pretty classic for the Sigur Rós of 2001 and could easily have come from Ágætis Byrjun. The final track is more of a departure, a rockier piece, their interpretation of a theme played to announce deaths and funerals on Icelandic radio. Quite a dark, brooding track this, more menacing than sombre. It is a harsh way to end a disc that really was not harsh at all.
Overall a pleasing album, better as a whole and approached when in the right spirit for it, but interesting to examine from time to time, too.
The opening is fairly dark, not angelic at all, but it opens up after about a minute into a gentle guitar melody and supporting strings which between them craft a nice light space, if a sad one, the guitar sounding mournful and lonely. It closes by drawing in the dark again. Memory... it is as if we have lost ours. New track, very very similar guitar theme, same sort of effect and arrangement. The overall tones here are sombre, moody but touched with a light brush. The guitar of early tracks recedes in later ones in favour of string leads. There are hints of electronic or synth tones too, becoming major features in places; Over the Bend features clicks and percussive electronics quite strongly, meshing this with the string lament. I am not quite sure the combination really works as executed but it is a nice idea before the whole track melts away into weirdness.
This is a soundtrack album, which explains the number of tracks and their breakpoints which, as with Approach/Dream and Memory, do not always make sense or lead to strong similarities between different tracks. It also strengthens the thematic connection, the loneliness and the sombreness, but along with them the sense of a big wide sky and a whole lot of nothingness. I guess that is Iceland for you.
At times the strings get piercingly sharp (I dislike the end of Journey to the Underworld, for instance) but mostly they are rich and deep, enveloping and warm. None of these positive traits manages to oust that singular feeling of being alone in the middle of nowhere though. The visuals I imagine for each track are probably a million miles away from what they actually accompany in the film and I am sure if I had the context of the pictures they partner then the inferences and themes that I took away from listening would be different. How far removed though, I wonder?
Another Memory, a call back to the same theme we heard earlier. Generally I like call back as a technique - particularly in stand up comedy. Musically it is something that can only work when listening to a work in its intended order, so I suspect it will become rarer and rarer going forwards. Concept albums, discs designed to be listened to through and through in order, these things have less place in the modern "download what I like, shuffle everything" world. That is a bit of a pity, though I hold my hand up as being as guilty as anyone of shifting to the new model with regards to home listening. Every so often I will get a hankering for something specific, or endeavour to build a playlist for a certain themed use, but shuffle is far simpler and quicker to get to, even taking all the skipping into account.
I have reached Schillar in China now - through the middle section there have been a couple of tonic shifts, a little more percussion here and there, but it has largely kept the same themes and patterns. I expect a shift for the last two tracks (since Sigur Rós apparently handed over completed tracks for the soundtrack rather than composing songs anew), but the Hilmarsson material has been very consistent on the whole. I like it - though I cannot say I would listen to much of it by choice unless I was specifically in the mood. It does scratch an itch I have though: film scores are great for exposure to more classical composition, something I have never managed in satisfactory manner through other means, much to my own limitation.
According to Eighteen Seconds Before Sunrise Bíum Bíum Bambaló is a take on a traditional Icelandic lullaby. I am a little surprised at how well it fits into Hilmarsson's theme. I should not have been, really - it is pretty classic for the Sigur Rós of 2001 and could easily have come from Ágætis Byrjun. The final track is more of a departure, a rockier piece, their interpretation of a theme played to announce deaths and funerals on Icelandic radio. Quite a dark, brooding track this, more menacing than sombre. It is a harsh way to end a disc that really was not harsh at all.
Overall a pleasing album, better as a whole and approached when in the right spirit for it, but interesting to examine from time to time, too.
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