Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust

Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (2008, XL) Sigur Ros's fifth studio album. ****

As any fan of Sigur Ros knows, they're fantastically strange. And anyone who does not like them would say the same, only changing that they're too strange, and that they're being different for the sake of being different. It's easy enough to say that the lyrical approach is pretentious; Sigur Ros sing in a Norwegian jibberish, encouraging their fans to make up their own words. No album better expresses their artsy tactfulness (or lack thereof, as some may say) than 2002's ( ), which had no titles, no lyrics, no acknowledgements, no nothing. The cover simply had the parenthesis and the band's name, and beyond that it was a mystery.

Now Sigur Ros have taken a new direction, and even the most devoted fan would have to say it is fairly different from anything they've done before. The opener, "Gobbledigook," is probably the most upbeat song the band has ever performed, and the whole album feels this way. While with Takk... and ( ) Sigur Ros explored the depths of moodiness, subtlety, and spaciness, Med Sud I Eyrum takes a turn for the spiritual, presenting itself in different fashions. The genres range from folk-stomp to church hymn to tribal beats, but no where does the album not feel as if it was made in the spirit of hope and the unknown. Sure, we've no idea what they might be saying (as the lyrics are again in a foreign mix of nonsense), but Sigur Ros have successfully demonstrated that they are only about music, and that their voices are merely tools for creating beautiful sounds and that the words are unimportant. Without saying anything, they have communicated a message purely through music, and that is a feat in and of itself. (Godan Daginn, Festival, Med Sud I Eyrum)