Disc of the day
Various Artists - Axe Attack Vol II
Metal Britannica inspires MOJO metal amnesty. Studded leather wristbands aloft!
Features Disc of the day
Sigur Rós
Takk…
(EMI, 2005)
Ambient-rock pixies go pop (kind of). Nature doc-makers of the world swoon as one.
Like the humpback whale, whose sonar-baffling song they are often said to emulate, Sigur Rós have been on a prolonged, mysterious migration. In 1999, their remarkable second album, Áegetis Byrjun, broke them on the world stage and proceeded to sell over half a million copies – unusual for a collection of keening reverbathons sung in an invented language. Almost immediately, the foursome threatened to consign themselves to the deep, as touring sapped their will and they made heavy work of the follow-up. Sluggish, mournful and untitled (it’s generally referred to as “()” or “brackets”, after the sleeve art), when the album finally emerged in 2002 it sounded like the work of self-regarding glummoes, beaten down by the reality of rock’n’roll success. Three years, one electronica-flavoured score for choreographer Merce Cunningham (the remorselessly downbeat Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do) and a strict tour moratorium later, Takk... was a change up, not only from “()” but, more impressively, from Ágaetis Byrjun. On one level it’s more of a pop record than either, full of whistle-test melodies (marvel as Hoppípolla’s piano riff lays waste to Coldplay; worry slightly as Saeglópur reminds you of Mark Cohn’s Walking In Memphis). On another it is their most intense and powerful work to date, delivering dizzying lumps of joy via the elvish ululation of Jón Pór Birgisson and the looming thunder of his sculpted guitar bursts – played, à la Jimmy Page or The Creation’s Eddie Philips, with a violin bow. Confounding those whose lingering impression of the band is of whimsical pixies vending New Age wallpaper, Takk… (“thank you” in Icelandic) misses few opportunities to deliver a mighty, crashing release of soul-wringing noise to resolve its complex, tension-building miniaturism. The sensation of waking in a vast Northern forest, perhaps from a dream involving Moomintrolls and Arvo Pärt, and having the Northern Lights injected directly into the frontal lobe can surely have nothing on Takk… Thankyou? No, thank you.
Danny Eccleston
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 08/06/2008
Further Listening
Sigur Rós – Áegetis Byrjun (Fat Cat)
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless (Creation)
Arvo Pärt – Tabula Rasa (Audiophile)
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Previous Disc of the day
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Various Artists - Axe Attack Vol II
Metal Britannica inspires MOJO metal amnesty. Studded leather wristbands aloft!
2:32 PM GMT 12/03/2010
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The Pop Group - Y
For connoisseurs of pop-as-rupture-in-the-space/time-continuum
6:00 AM GMT 11/03/2010
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St Vitus Dance - Glypotheque
Belfast combo return unannounced, go sardonic pop-folk.
6:00 AM GMT 09/03/2010
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