Jónsi announced that Sigur Rós was on 'an indefinite hiatus', as several members of Sigur Rós recently had children, and as Jónsi developed his solo career. Which means that "Good Start" might as well become of the most charming understatements to come out of a band in years. The next Sigur R ó s album would be released 4 years later. Rarely has a sophomore effort sounded this thick and surprising. As expected, though, the band's keen sense of Sturm und Drang is mostly contained within an elegant scope of melodies for the remainder of this follow-up. Take "Hjartað Hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm)," for instance: there are so many layers of heavy strings, dense atmospherics, and fading vocals that it becomes an ineffectual mess of styles over style. Please consider supporting us by giving monthly PayPal donations and help keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever. However, at its worst, the album sometimes slides into an almost overkill of sonic structures. SIGUR RS gtis Byrjun music review by BrufordFreak has always (since 2002) relied on banners ads to cover web hosting fees and all. At its best, the album seems to accomplish everything lagging post-shoegazers like Spiritualized or Chapterhouse once promised. One will constantly be waiting to hear what fascinating turns such complex musicianship will take at a moment's notice. Extremely deep strings underpin falsetto wails from the mournfully epic ("Viðar Vel Tl Loftárasa") to the unreservedly cinematic ("Avalon"). The rest of this full-length follows such similar quality. After an introduction just this side of one of the aforementioned Stone Roses' backward beauties, the album pumps in the morning mist with "Sven-G-Englar" - a song of such accomplished gorgeousness that one wonders why such a tiny country as Iceland can musically outperform entire continents in just a few short minutes.
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However, the album that many of those suitors keep coming back to would be Ágætis byrjun, the band’s second LP. Indeed, Ágætis Byrjun pulls no punches from the start. With seven albums under their belt and a list of artists citing their influence as long as the band members’ collective arms, Sigur Rós have inspired a generation. With their second album, Ágætis byrjun, Sigur Rós knew only that they wanted to make things bigger. So as talented as Von might have been, this time out is probably even more worthy of dramatic debut expectations. Today, we revisit Sigur Rós’ elemental 1999 breakthrough.
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This second album - Ágætis Byrjun - translates roughly to Good Start. Even on aesthetic matters, Sigur Rós entitle their sophomore effort not in a manner to play up the irony of high expectations (à la the Stone Roses' Second Coming), but in a modest realization. Singer Jónsi Birgisson delivers harrowing primal caws throughout tracks like Ný Batterí and Olsen Olsen but there’s no telling what he’s saying. By this time, the band recruited in a new keyboardist by the name of Kjartan Sveinsson and it seems to have done nothing but take the band to an even higher state of self-awareness. Sigur Rós’s Ágætis Byrjun (An Alright Start) is an entire album of such gorgeousness for which you’ll need a pair of headphones and a napkin to wipe up your inevitable mess.