6 months after their support slot with godspeed…iceland’s sigur ros, rolled back into belfast with an amazing new album to promote and a hushed crowd unusually ready to listen.
as a reward for their unfaltering attention the 200-odd punters were witness to one of the best gigs of the year so far. the hotly tipped 4-piece create sounds that seem to mirror the landscape of their home country.
the huge rolling noises created by a violin bow screeching across electric guitar blend perfectly with lead singer jonsi’s beautifully placed lyrics – a mixture of icelandic and his very own made-up language, hopelandish, apparently.
the highlight of the show had to be ‘staralfur’ from the ‘agaetis byrjun’ album or maybe it was local dance maestro, phil kieran, welling up and admitting that this was real music. brilliant. (BBC)
esbs
says:
aaron scullion in the post-rock world, things are starting to take an altogether silly turn. sigur rós are entirely responsible for this – an icelandic four piece who come to the uk, a country not known for its language skills, then attempt to captivate us with some almost inaudible high-pitched icelandic vocal gymnastics.
an outfit whose lead singer, jónsi birgisson, plays the guitar with a violin bow, intermittently sings into the strings of his instrument, and chooses to play barefoot, shoes perched domestically aside the stage. a band who can, in all sincerity, play a ninety minute set that contains somewhere between six and seven songs. that’s an average of over twelve minutes a song, which in theory it shouldn’t be allowed.
in practise, it is of course an altogether different and subjective matter. it helps that someone has been thoughtful enough to fill the venue with tiny candles, a gaggle of flickering lights dousing the stage in an almost imperceptible, darkly romantic glow. coupled with the sheer blue radiance of surrounding spotlights, and the exceptionally slow-burning nature of this performance, there’s a sincerely melancholic, fatalistic edge here.
pontificating to an extent that makes a mogwai performance look like a chord-chopping guitar free-for-all, every single drop of aural power and every last trickle of feeling is extracted from every note, an intense, grinding approach that demolishes expectations.
we’ve seen most of these tricks before. the old ‘quiet-loud’ is a well-worn, if effective staple now. and in truth, even playing the guitar with a violin bow is familiar territory. thing is, sigur rós are defined not by their adherence to intellectual rock cliches, but by the truly terrifying vocal range of birgisson, which lies somewhere between the pure, angelic tones of an exceptionally gifted choirboy, and the deranged mating call of a whale.
during ‘svefn-g-englar’, a track taken from their just-released ‘agaetis byrjun’ album, his tiny neck appears ready to pop, veins bulging, seemingly unable to contain these high pressure sounds emanating from far, far within. almost unsurpassable, it’s the kind of sound that should, rightly, bring tears of envy to the eyes of the numerous sub-jeff buckley vocalists currently fronting bands as they lurch toward chart success.
armed with plectrums, dispensing with the bow, sigur rós finish on a vicious high, six minutes of militant, triumphantly repetitive instrumental trashing. afterwards, when asked for a set list, a technician laughs and says that they make it up as they go along. there’s a clear factual basis to his statement and, in truth, there can be no greater compliment. (aaron scullion)
esbs
says:
anonynmous reviewers hey, they’re playing our song again. the one with the chorus that goes: “ichuuuooouhhhgggh” about a million times until our rational thinking turns to mush and our senses are transported to the planet wibbley. yep, it’s time, once more, for our icelandic faves sigur ros and their very singular brand of swooning, drifting, ever-so-grandiose rock.
which of course means that jonsi, the main guy, will be messing with a violin bow, evoking those big, sustaining chords on his guitar. and when he gets a bit bored with that effect, he’ll hold the instrument up to his face and he’ll sing into the electronic pick-ups. as a fall-back, he’s even got a rather majestic voice that soars and swallow dives in an instant, alternately warbling in icelandic or in his own personalised language, hopelandish, aiming to get to the heart of a given emotion, beyond mere words.
last time the band appeared here, they were on the same bill as godspeed you black emperor, and they didn’t get the audience’s best response. tonight, more people are into the scheme, and the ripple of applause that greets ‘svefn-g-englar’ suggests that the records have been duly bought, digested and admired.
sure, there’s a very fine line between ambitious art and pretentious guff, and sigur ros are familiar with both sides of the divide. some tunes last far too long, and the audience chatter starts to rise above these rarefied tones. then again, there are moments of this show that leave you stung with the beauty of it all; a band on a singular mission when so many of their peers are just following the instruction manual.
disappointingly, the band don’t play several atl faves from the new album, ‘agaetis byrjun’. maybe it’s because there’s an orchestral dimension to those tunes that just would work in these basic circumstances. perhaps another time, in a more spectacular venue. but for now, here it is – the most captivating, vast show around.
4 out of 5
it speaks volumes for the icelandic band sigur ros that they have achieved so much critical acclaim when they have eschewed the normal route to stardom by actually sticking to their mother tongue. to be perfectly honest, though, like the cocteau twins, lyrical content doesn’t seem to matter on music like this. the sound is part ethereal (think of the 4ad label acts), part my bloody valentine’s guitar effects and at times almost classical. if one can imagine dolphins singing in tune then it’s likely that ‘svefn-g-englar’ would be the result but this album is full of gloriously weird moments. the effects on ‘staralfur’ are spine tingling as the angelic vocals of teenager jonsi birgigisson take on the might of a string section to impressive effect; similarly impressive is the collision of mournful brass against the cymbal crashes of ‘ny batteri’. at 70 minutes long such invention is a lot to take in and certainly a few of the tracks probably last a few minutes longer than they needed to but sigur ros have proved that there’s more talent in iceland than björk alone. and how.
esbs
says:6 months after their support slot with godspeed…iceland’s sigur ros, rolled back into belfast with an amazing new album to promote and a hushed crowd unusually ready to listen.
as a reward for their unfaltering attention the 200-odd punters were witness to one of the best gigs of the year so far. the hotly tipped 4-piece create sounds that seem to mirror the landscape of their home country.
the huge rolling noises created by a violin bow screeching across electric guitar blend perfectly with lead singer jonsi’s beautifully placed lyrics – a mixture of icelandic and his very own made-up language, hopelandish, apparently.
the highlight of the show had to be ‘staralfur’ from the ‘agaetis byrjun’ album or maybe it was local dance maestro, phil kieran, welling up and admitting that this was real music. brilliant.
(BBC)
esbs
says:aaron scullion
in the post-rock world, things are starting to take an altogether silly turn. sigur rós are entirely responsible for this – an icelandic four piece who come to the uk, a country not known for its language skills, then attempt to captivate us with some almost inaudible high-pitched icelandic vocal gymnastics.
an outfit whose lead singer, jónsi birgisson, plays the guitar with a violin bow, intermittently sings into the strings of his instrument, and chooses to play barefoot, shoes perched domestically aside the stage. a band who can, in all sincerity, play a ninety minute set that contains somewhere between six and seven songs. that’s an average of over twelve minutes a song, which in theory it shouldn’t be allowed.
in practise, it is of course an altogether different and subjective matter. it helps that someone has been thoughtful enough to fill the venue with tiny candles, a gaggle of flickering lights dousing the stage in an almost imperceptible, darkly romantic glow. coupled with the sheer blue radiance of surrounding spotlights, and the exceptionally slow-burning nature of this performance, there’s a sincerely melancholic, fatalistic edge here.
pontificating to an extent that makes a mogwai performance look like a chord-chopping guitar free-for-all, every single drop of aural power and every last trickle of feeling is extracted from every note, an intense, grinding approach that demolishes expectations.
we’ve seen most of these tricks before. the old ‘quiet-loud’ is a well-worn, if effective staple now. and in truth, even playing the guitar with a violin bow is familiar territory. thing is, sigur rós are defined not by their adherence to intellectual rock cliches, but by the truly terrifying vocal range of birgisson, which lies somewhere between the pure, angelic tones of an exceptionally gifted choirboy, and the deranged mating call of a whale.
during ‘svefn-g-englar’, a track taken from their just-released ‘agaetis byrjun’ album, his tiny neck appears ready to pop, veins bulging, seemingly unable to contain these high pressure sounds emanating from far, far within. almost unsurpassable, it’s the kind of sound that should, rightly, bring tears of envy to the eyes of the numerous sub-jeff buckley vocalists currently fronting bands as they lurch toward chart success.
armed with plectrums, dispensing with the bow, sigur rós finish on a vicious high, six minutes of militant, triumphantly repetitive instrumental trashing. afterwards, when asked for a set list, a technician laughs and says that they make it up as they go along. there’s a clear factual basis to his statement and, in truth, there can be no greater compliment.
(aaron scullion)
esbs
says:anonynmous reviewers
hey, they’re playing our song again. the one with the chorus that goes: “ichuuuooouhhhgggh” about a million times until our rational thinking turns to mush and our senses are transported to the planet wibbley. yep, it’s time, once more, for our icelandic faves sigur ros and their very singular brand of swooning, drifting, ever-so-grandiose rock.
which of course means that jonsi, the main guy, will be messing with a violin bow, evoking those big, sustaining chords on his guitar. and when he gets a bit bored with that effect, he’ll hold the instrument up to his face and he’ll sing into the electronic pick-ups. as a fall-back, he’s even got a rather majestic voice that soars and swallow dives in an instant, alternately warbling in icelandic or in his own personalised language, hopelandish, aiming to get to the heart of a given emotion, beyond mere words.
last time the band appeared here, they were on the same bill as godspeed you black emperor, and they didn’t get the audience’s best response. tonight, more people are into the scheme, and the ripple of applause that greets ‘svefn-g-englar’ suggests that the records have been duly bought, digested and admired.
sure, there’s a very fine line between ambitious art and pretentious guff, and sigur ros are familiar with both sides of the divide. some tunes last far too long, and the audience chatter starts to rise above these rarefied tones. then again, there are moments of this show that leave you stung with the beauty of it all; a band on a singular mission when so many of their peers are just following the instruction manual.
disappointingly, the band don’t play several atl faves from the new album, ‘agaetis byrjun’. maybe it’s because there’s an orchestral dimension to those tunes that just would work in these basic circumstances. perhaps another time, in a more spectacular venue. but for now, here it is – the most captivating, vast show around.
4 out of 5
it speaks volumes for the icelandic band sigur ros that they have achieved so much critical acclaim when they have eschewed the normal route to stardom by actually sticking to their mother tongue. to be perfectly honest, though, like the cocteau twins, lyrical content doesn’t seem to matter on music like this. the sound is part ethereal (think of the 4ad label acts), part my bloody valentine’s guitar effects and at times almost classical. if one can imagine dolphins singing in tune then it’s likely that ‘svefn-g-englar’ would be the result but this album is full of gloriously weird moments. the effects on ‘staralfur’ are spine tingling as the angelic vocals of teenager jonsi birgigisson take on the might of a string section to impressive effect; similarly impressive is the collision of mournful brass against the cymbal crashes of ‘ny batteri’. at 70 minutes long such invention is a lot to take in and certainly a few of the tracks probably last a few minutes longer than they needed to but sigur ros have proved that there’s more talent in iceland than björk alone. and how.