Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 66
 stop reading reviews June 28, 2008
D (Alabama)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
i love sigur ros. to hear them sound so alive and fresh, it's pretty much awesome. this album evokes emotion just as well as the past albums, only it's a much different emotion, one of a content for life. for me the sounds of Agaetis Byrjun were the sounds of falling in love, as i was. ( ) was there with me for some of my worst years, not to sound predictable, but for me it was true. this music doesn't need critiquing. just enjoy it. to read some of you write about sigur ros selling out is hilarious. do you really expect to hear Gobbledigook on the radio?
Sigur Ros just gained a new fan with this album June 29, 2008
Rie Sasaki (The land of the lost - LaLa Land United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was not a Sigur Ros fan before I heard their latest album. I've listened to a few of their previous stuff, but none really caught my eye. Until I heard Gobbledigook randomly on myspace, it just blew me away. I heard the clips of the rest of the songs on Amazon, and ordered it. Upon my first listen, I was completely floored. Listening to them was a completely new experience for me. Although I don't understand the words, their music brought tears to my eyes. They stirred something inside my soul and brought out all kinds of emotions. I am more likely to check out more of their previous releases because of this album.
Their most accessible yet!!! September 9, 2008
Nse Ette (Lagos, Nigeria)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
With their fifth album, Icelandic quartet Sigur Ros may have earned the dubious honour of "most un-pronouncable title" or "worst album cover" ever, but it's also their most accessible album, a strong contender for "best album of the year" honours.
If you've never listened to them, it is difficult to describe their sound. Their lead singer sings in an ethereal falsetto, usually in their made up language Hopelandic, against a dreamy melodic folk/quasi-symphonic backdrop.
Opening cut "Gobbledigook" is a clap filled Folky affair. "Vi spilum endalaust" took me by surprise, an upbeat Pop song that one could easily imagine on a Coldplay album.
Spare and cathedral sounding is "Festival" which builds to a towering climax. "Su i eyrum" is a delicate piano ballad with tumbling sounding percussion building in as the song progresses. "Ara batur" is an angelic sounding spare ballad one could imagine on some soundtrack to some epic. It features the 20 member London Oratory Boys Choir and the 67 piece London Sinfonietta.
"Illgresi" is a lovely acoustic ballad, and the absolutely stunning "Fljotavik" is a piano ballad that finds lead singer Jonsi Birgisson's falsetto soaring vocally to Heaven.
The brief "Straumnes" is an ominous sounding instrumental, and closing is "All alright", their first foray lyrically in the English language. A tender lullaby-like piano ballad with Birgisson singing in a frail lower register in the first half. He might as well be singing in their signature Hopelandic from his warbling. Still, a stirring and beautiful song.
So many adjectives could be used to describe this album; ethereal, melodic, magical, hypnotic, hymnal, and they would still not be enough to describe the beauty of this stunning album.
An ad for this album in the New Yorker July 16, 2008
Charles Wells (Sedona)
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
An ad for the album in the New Yorker, with nudes running across a country road on the cover, caught my eye. I found myself trying to translate the
words on the cover, and I couldn't even figure out the language. Even the script was unusual. It would be weeks before release date but I got to hear this incredibly powerful, yet simple and awesome music, for the first time on the internet, and it was love at first hearing. New to the computer, it was
also the first album purchase via the net. The music was like nothing
I've heard in my seventy seven years. I can't get over that I am hooked on what I thought would be essentially music for young people. This music is for all ages. Songs five, six, and seven are staggeringly beautiful and give me
horripilations and exaltation ever time I hear it. I have not yet listened to other works of Sigur Ros's. But this album contains music that reaches agelessness; stark, brilliant, spellbinding.
For some reason, the DVD would not play on my music system in the one room, but did on another system in the kitchen, and played on my Mac Pro,
where I downloaded it, and will transfer it to the160MG iPod, as soon as I learn how.
Best album of 2008 June 26, 2008
Manny Hernandez (Palo Alto, CA)
16 out of 24 found this review helpful
I had a mixed reaction when I started listening to the "Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust" by Sigur Ros. The opening song was just not like your typical Sigur Ros: it was too... pop.. I was confused: was this Death Cab for Cutie? Had I clicked on the wrong MP3 on iTunes? "Gobbledigook" turned out to be a poppier track, indeed, but even at performing pop they rocked!
From the second track, you go back into familiar Sigur Ros territory. The main difference (besides the opening track) this time around is that the band gets more intimate, with acoustic guitar-based tracks, such as "Godan daginn" and "Illgresi," and quiet piano-based tracks like "Fljotavik," the closing "All Alright" and "Ara batur" (which later evolves into a majestic epic that only they could have recorded).
After 8 listens, the album keeps growing on me. There is only one other album that could be as good this year (though it most likely will be in second place: Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow by Hammock. Otherwise, Sigur Ros did it again and make any wait for their music worth every minute.
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