() Untitled Album| Album Review

Unspeakable Beauty
by: bill aicher

If you've been keen to the whole Sigur Ros deal, by now you know the story with their latest album. No title, no track titles, no text in the liner notes, no real words - all to put the focus on the music alone. There's good reason for this too, since once again Sigur Ros have succeeded in making what is basically some of the most beautiful, ethereal, and religious music ever to be put to tape.

That's really what this untitled work is when you get down to the root - amidst the bowed guitars, simple piano lines, marvelous strings, gibberish "Hopelandic" vocals and every other imaginable swirl of atmospheric rock you can imagine - this music is about how it makes you feel. And with this music, if you let it make you make you feel, you end up feeling ... well... high. High on music - and that's a damn sweet feeling.

For this review I originally thought I'd be all sly and give each track my own title, since Sigur Ros have been urging their listeners to give the songs whatever titles they like, decide on their own lyrics (since Jon Thor Birgisson's "Hopelandic" language is made up, and basically there to serve as his voice as instrument), and even illustrate the liner notes as they see fit. But it's not my place to give these songs titles; at least not to give them titles and to let you all know them. The album's an unbelievably personal experience, if you let it be, and each person would be best off coming up with their own interpretations and feelings.

And trust me, this is an album for everyone. It may be a bit less melodic than Agaetis Byrjun (the group's previous effort), but it's so much more inviting. It's atmospheric rock at it's best, and neo-classical at it's true birth... and it's un-f#*king-believable. 12-Nov-2002 8:28 AM