Customer Reviews:
 Simply amazing July 30, 2008
Sigur Ros wrote another masterpiece, it's as simple as that. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Sigur Ros fan and indeed have a biased opinion, but hey, I'm a huge Coldplay fan as well and think that their last album (viva la vida, received it the same day as Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust) is simply and sadly utterly B-A-D, so trust me when I tell you that this new material from "the boys from Iceland" is simply amazing. Following the track laid out by their previous album "Takk", with more upbeat songs (note that "upbeat" is not exactly Sigur Ros's forte, so take that with a grain of salt), it again shows Sigur Ros's incredible skills at mixing "regular" instruments such as guitar (even though they usually love to play it with violin/cello bows, since day 1 with albums like "Von" or "Agaetis Byrjun", go see them live and you'll understand), with amazing strings/orchestras pieces mixed to it, adding amazing hopelandic lyrics/chants/choirs to the mix. Amazingly, I would say that this album is one of the most accessible piece they ever wrote (vs other albums like "()" that could be somewhat challenging to the "Sigur Ros newbie"), and yet, the orchestrations are so amazing that this is simply the best album I've heard this year (for 2008, the best album of 2007 was IMHO "In Rainbows" by Radiohead). Simply buy it, you won't regret it.
I love Sigur Ros! July 30, 2008
They just keep on churning out amazing music. It's calming and it helps me get through my day.
perfect July 29, 2008
this is one of the best disc I have heard in a long time.. Sigur Ros is sublime!!!
Acoustic: a surprising but pleasant twist in Sigur Rös' music July 28, 2008
I have only known about Sigur Rös for about 3 years. When I heard some previews from their Tepoztlan concert I simply got this disc as soon as I could, and took it to a roadtrip from Seattle to Calgary. Certainly the music exceeded all my expectations. For the first time, they use mostly acoustic, live-recorded instruments, which let you enjoy not only their superior music composition skills, but also their unique and well educated voices. Gobbledigook and Ara Batur are absolutely majestic compositions, but I must confess that my personal favorite is Festival: the power and feeling transmitted by the voices caused a different, interior experience for me.
 Stripped down figures on the cover...Stripped down songs inside(mostly) July 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've been a Sigur Ros fan for quite some time, since 1999 when I first heard Agaetis Byrun. Since then, I've collected anything and everything that was released by the band and was lucky enough to see them live when they kicked off the US leg of the Takk tour here in Hawaii. Simply an amazing band with such a unique and beautiful sound, their music, so atmospheric and layered with emotions.
"Med Sud I Eyrum Spilum Endalaust", the band's 4th full length release (5th if you count Von) had my expectations high. After my first listen, I was a bit disappointed. The band's sound seemed to be a lot more stripped down, not this vast sonic landscape the band so easily painted in the past. I read some of the early reviews and one common theme to most of them was to take more time listening to the album, so that's exactly what I did. So now, it's 1 month later, and I will have to agree that the songs grew on me the more time I gave it, but, still not to the level of the 3 previous albums.
The general vein running through the album is that it's much more upbeat and pop sounding...only as much as a band like Sigur Ros could sound "pop" that is. The opening track, "Gobbledigook", was just a total departure from anything they've done, fast, with an almost tribal beat, that actually felt monotonous and light to me. The 2nd track "Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur" was another fast-tempo song, upbeat with a strong percussive movement throughout but as with the first track, it felt like there was no real substance to it. These 2 tracks were probably my least favorite on the album. The other song that I was disappointed in is track 7, "Ara Batur". A slower, near 9 minute track that for the most part is beautiful with just Jonsi's great voice backed by a piano and later building with some strings. Towards the last 2 minutes of the track though, it crescendos into a full orchestra that just sounds too syrupy, too over dramatic, like the score to a love-saturated B-Movie and is just too over the top for me.
There are many great tracks on this album though, "Festival", the longest track at 9:24 is definitely the anchor of the album. It wanders effortlessly with Jonsi's falsetto voice and slowly builds to a swirling climax, to finally end in near silence with just some quiet whistling...brilliant. The following track, "Sud I Eyrum" is another upbeat and playful sounding track that ends with a great distortion that sounds incredible through headphones. Another track worth mentioning is track 8, "Illgresi", which is probably the most stripped down of all the songs. It features just Jonsi on acoustic guitar with a few moments of strings. Very folk sounding and soothing. Track 9, "Fljotavik" yet another slower track that has a nice flow to it which builds to an upbeat, happy ending. And the final track, "All Alright" is very subdued and slow moving. Jonsi actually sings in English and in a quiet, intimate voice. With some very touching lyrics;
"I'm sitting with you / Sitting in silence / Let's sing into the years, like one / Singing in tune, together / A psalm for no one / Let's sing in tune / But now it's home",
it's a perfect ending to the album.
Like the cover with the nude figures running accross a deserted road, the songs on this album are stripped down and happily running forward. For me, "Med Sud I Eyrum Spilum Endalaust" is much more structured than prior albums for sure, and with a more structured production, some of the songs do seem to lose some of that indescribable "essence" that had grabbed me in previous releases.
I really struggled with what to rate this album. I bounced back and forth between 3 and 4 stars but ultimately decided it was closer to 4 than 3. I do think fans that already know the band and new fans alike, will still find this album enjoyable and worth adding to their collection.
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