Artist of the Week - Sigur Rós

Another busy week - midterm followed by a paper which made my mind go completely blank every time I thought about writing it! A little time off before my next paper, and after that I can relax properly for a while.
I watched the film Ondine recently, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of the music was by either Lisa Hannigan (aka the lady that used to sing with Damien Rice) or Sigur Rós, two artists that I really like. In fact, I won't give anything away, but Sigur Rós actually play a part in the story. In light of that, here is my artist of the week.


Artist of the Week - Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós are an Icelandic post-rock group, with, according to their wikipedia entry "melodic, classical, and minimalist elements". Basically this just means that they sound a bit strange and don't follow traditional pop song forms.  The bands innovative use of instruments, for example bowed guitar, combined with lead singer Jónsi Birgisson's remarkable voice make Sigur Rós' music instantly recognisable. The band consists of Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, Georg "Goggi" Hólm, Kjartan "Kjarri" Sveinsson and Orri Páll Dýrason.  They sing in Icelandic, English and Vonlenska, aka Hopelandic - a language made up by the band members. The first time I came across Sigur Rós was, similarly to many other people, when I heard their song "Hoppípolla" on some trailer or other.  If you live in the UK, it is very likely that you have heard that song before too - it is used widely in television and film trailers and adverts.  I saw them live a couple of years ago in Alexandra Palace, and it was a magical experience. They have so far released 7 albums and one film, Heima:

aren't Icelandic accents just so adorable?!

I would strongly encourage anyone to watch this, even if they don't know Sigur Rós' music at all.  The visuals are absolutely stunning and incredibly haunting, and it may sound weird but I thought the editing was brilliant.  It made me want to go to Iceland even more than I already did!

So, onto the music - here are some of my favourite tracks by Sigur Rós (it is so hard to choose, so I ended up with a lot): I know they are long, but please do try to listen to them!

of course, I couldn't get away with missing out Hoppípolla:

Gong

I love the guitar on this song

Ágætis byrjun

This is Icelandic for "an alright start". This song always reminds me of the sun coming out after the rain - it always makes me smile

Sæglópur

And this is the rain. The song title is Icelandic for "lost at sea".

All Alright

This was the song featured in Ondine

Í Gær

One of their earliest tracks, this was reissued on their Hvarf/Heim album. This is the one in the trailer for Heima.

Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur

In a completely different mood, this is from their latest album "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" (With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly)

Íllgresi

Very calm and beautiful

Von

I love the instrumentation on this track

Just to point out - they have some tracks for free download on their site: http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/media/index.php