Sigur Ros Agaetis Byrjun CD

Two years passed since Sigur Rós' debut. 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. 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. This second album -- Agætis Byrjun -- translates roughly to Good Start. So as talented as Von might have been, this time out is probably even more worthy of dramatic debut expectations. Indeed, Agætis Byrjun pulls no punches from the start. 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. The rest of this full-length follows such similar quality. Extremely deep strings underpin falsetto wails from the mournfully epic ("Vidar Vel Tl Loftárasa") to the unreservedly cinematic ("Avalon"). One will constantly be waiting to hear what fascinating turns such complex musicianship will take at a moment's notice. At its best, the album seems to accomplish everything lagging post-shoegazers like Spiritualized or Chapterhouse once promised. However, at its worst, the album sometimes slides into an almost overkill of sonic structures. Take "Hjartad 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. 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. Rarely has a sophomore effort sounded this thick and surprising. Which means that "Good Start" might as well become of the most charming understatements to come out of a band in years. ~ Dean Carlson
This stately Iceland rock outfit took the alternative-music world by storm with its second album, AGAETIS BYRJUN--a haunting, eloquent, 76-minute instant classic. Frontman Jon Por Birgisson sings in a language he calls "Hopelandic" (a combination of Icelandic and his own angelic calling), over the lyrical ebb and flow of feedback-drenched guitar, gushing keyboards, gently driving bass, and drums that crash like the surf of an alien ocean. After a droning beginning, the curtains suddenly part with "Svefn-G-Englar," revealing a sound as wide open and exhilarating as Iceland's landscape. Later, the mournful violin and slowly cascading beats of "Flugufrelsarinn" give way to ghostly horn sections, orchestral crescendos, stretches of silence, crashing dissonance, sad piano lines, and a Radiohead-esque dip into the realm of rock on "Olsen Olsen." The breathtaking scope and emotional richness of this outing turned Sigur Ros into an overnight success. Within a year of AGAETIS BYRJUN's release on the small British label Fatcat Records, the band went from obscurity to selling out major venues, scoring films, and signing with MCA, who re-released the album to even wider acclaim.

UK version of the Icelandic experimental/alternative act's international debut (their third album overall). Originally released in 1999, 'Agaetis Bryjun' is multi-platinum in their homeland. Includes the singles, 'Svefn-G-Englar' and 'Ny Batteri'. A brilliant record packaged in a digipak.Rolling Stone (1/4/01, p.116) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Top 50 Albums of 2000".
Rolling Stone (9/28/00, p.61) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...The most bizzarely beautiful import from Iceland since Bjork..."
Spin (1/01, p.73) - Ranked #13 in Spin's "Top 20 Albums of the Year [2000]".
Spin (10/00, pp.177-8) - 8 out of 10 - "...All midnight-sun and bummed-Viking angst. Jon or Birgisson's lovely, breathless vocals glide over guitar clouds, and drums boom along at a languid pace as the songs slowly approach bliss-out..."
Magnet (p.118) - "The album' mixture of cello-bowed guitar, sugar-frosted strings and heavenly human choruses would have a huge impact on tourmates Radiohead, whose ice-age anti-statement KID A remains indebted to this mini-masterpiece."
CMJ (10/30/00, p.22) - "...Deep, almost primordial beauty....It doesn't get much more sublime than this."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.58) - Ranked #70 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "So captivatingly diffuse, AGAETIS BYRJUN sounds as though it was beamed in from 1,000 years ago."
NME (Magazine) (12/30/00, p.79) - Ranked #35 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year" - "...The shoegazing soundtrack to frozen skies and magma flows..."