Which means it’s been 14 years since they released an album that wasn’t shite.
Meo Seo… - two or three good songs and Festival is great live. Rest are happy clappy crap.
Valtari - Varuo is great, rest is ambient shite that Ian William Craig could write having a wank.
Kviekur- First track is cracking, rest is completely pointless (Hrafntinna is decent live though).
Six years since their last full length. Haven’t got my hopes up.
I like all their albums. Valtari has a nice calming feel to it.
hmmm… I’ve not listened to them in quite a while, as I found being told that “you saw” all the time got a bit boring. However I do have memories of enjoying Kveikur a fair bit, so I’m going to test your theory by listening to it.
This is such a great album, and yup… not really been into anything they’ve done since.
Shame it’s actually “Tjú”, which is apparently a sound that Icelanders make to comfort babies.
yeah, it was fine, but I think I like it most for the crunchy collapsing noises and less for the rest of it.
Absolutely adore this record, must admit I’ve struggled to listen to any Sigur Ros since hearing about the drummer last year.
I haven’t really given it consideration, which is odd thinking about it as I haven’t listened to Swans since and they were probably my favourite band at the time. If it was Jonsi I would’ve drawn a line under them.
I probably do need to get past thinking about it, he was just the drummer after all.
Untitled 8 always sounded so fucking epic live.
Was a big fan of Kviekur at the time and it was a return to that dark and brooding dynamic that they hadn’t explored since (). Found their Primavera show as a three piece slightly underwhelming and not sure where they go from here…
Anyway, love the transition that () goes through right up to the finale in Untitled 8. Going to whack it on at some point in honour of its 17th anniversary.
I was also pretty underwhelmed with them as a 3 piece when I saw them in Manchester last year. They had so much on a backing track that I couldn’t tell who was actually playing what.
Bought it soon after release, loved it, listened to it to death, went to see them in mancs and halfway through thought ‘hang on, this is a bit shit’ and havent listened to them since.
Thanks for reading.
Are they still a thing? Down to two members now and they seem to spend all their time fiddling with conceptual art wank.
I think I’d look forward to another album by them - Með suð… has been their only real duffer so far. Although their live shows have been half-arsed since Takk, so I can’t ever see myself splashing the cash on another gig.
I used to love this album and put it on last week. Ended up turning it off half way through because I was so bored. I don’t know if my tastes have changed or the album just hasn’t aged well. Like most things I guess the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
For me it’s a top ten of the decade candidate (or at the very least, a top three of 2013), and I’d put Stormur as one of their best few songs:
Takk isn’t shite! Glósóli, Sæglópur, Gong, Andvari…all of those are top tier SR.
Með suð is an odd one. Festival is epic live, but bears very little relation to the rest of the record. Illgresi is an overlooked gem in their catalogue.
Valtari does drift for long stretches, especially on the last few tracks. Varúð and Dauðalogn are both beautiful, but overall, it’s not one of their better records.
Kveikur is probably 3rd/4th best in the catalogue. Title track is immense, especially live.
Yes, that’s why I said (or at least implied) that
Big fan of the band even if the love has waned in recent years - If I was doing PF ratings
Von 6.3
Agaetis 9.4
( ) 9.3
Takk 9.5
Hvarf/Heim 8.0
Med Sud 9.0 (don’t mind a bit of happy clap)
Valtari 7.4
Kveikur 7.7
…hadn’t realised about the (ex) drummer till today…ugh