Sigur Ros Takk... CD

Sigur Rós: Jonsi Birgisson (vocals, guitar); Kjartan Sveinsson (keyboards); Georg Holm (bass guitar); Orri Páll DyRason (drums).
A strange thing happens before the two-minute mark in "Saeglopur." All the twinkling and cooing erupts, at what might seem like eight minutes earlier than normal, into a cathartic blast of tautly constructed group noise -- or, as those who prefer songs and motion over moods and atmospheres might say, "The good part comes." "Saeglopur" is emblematic of Sigur Rós' fourth album, released nearly three years (!) after ( ). Nothing resembles a drone, and no part of it could be described as funereal. Even so, Takk... is still very much a Sigur Rós album, due in large part to the ever-present otherworldly vocals, but also because the only real changes are the activeness of some arrangements -- arrangements that deploy a familiar combination of bass, drums, piano, vocals, lots of strings, and some horns -- and some of the colors that are used. Despite opening with what sounds like a happy walk through a snow bank, the album is just as suited for a sunlit spring morning as ( ) was suited for a winter trudge across a foggy moor, so in that sense, it isn't a repeat and is more tactile than illusory, but it's not likely to win over anyone who suddenly felt an index finger push against the back of his throat while hearing "Svefn-G-Englar" for the first time. And it's not as if the band is suddenly writing three-minute pop songs, either. Half of the album's tracks are longer than six minutes, with extended cresting, sudden bursts of action, and a couple particularly fragile moments that seem to be on the brink of melting away. One thing to consider when wondering whether or not this band has changed in any way: they've gone from providing the background music to death announcements to "Sé Lest," a fluttering children's lullaby that is briefly crashed by an even more gleeful oom-pah-pah brass band. ~ Andy Kellman
For its fourth full-length studio album, Sigur Ros returns to the sound that made the Icelandic ensemble an internationally renowned rock band. Whereas the group's first outing, VON, was dark and heavy, and 2002's () was often ambient and drone-driven, TAKK...sees Jonsi Birgisson and the lads revisiting the chiming, soaring aesthetic of AGAETIS BYRJUN, the quartet's acclaimed breakthrough record. On this 2005 disc, Sigur Ros's melodies and rhythms ebb and flow beautifully, occasionally building to fierce, guitar-laden crests. Birgisson's high, wispy vocals are still key to the band's sound, but the foursome's intuitive instrumental work, which is highlighted by atmospheric keyboards and pounding percussion, truly carries these songs, resulting in a potent, mesmerizing album.Rolling Stone (No. 983, p.104) - 3.5 out of 5 stars - "...TAKK... suggests a far more abstract Coldplay, stripped of their stadium bombast...."
Spin (p.139) - "Birgisson sings in tongues most of us can't comprehend, and thus he can punch emotional buttons in a strangely direct way." - Grade: A
Entertainment Weekly (No. 840, p.88) - "...[T]he thundering majesty of harder tracks...finds its strings-laden counterpart in the swooning, slow-mo abstraction that makes up the bulk of this disc..." - Grade: A-
Uncut (p.109) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[E]motionally seductive....Dark clouds of intensity gather and then slowly disperse, leaving a crystalline calm."
Magnet (p.108) - "TAKK's mini suites play out with typically complex beauty....Gathering tiny moments of clarity into big, breathtaking shapes that are glorious to examine from near or far."
The Wire (p.63) - "The music's strengths lie in its sheer vastness, depicting a series of enormous peaks and crescendos before suddenly cutting back to tiny details, contrasting the hugeness of the group's full sound with the fragility of some of its elements."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.60) - Ranked #27 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "A coming-of-age album from Iceland's etherealists."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.99) - 4 stars out of 5 - "TAKK...delivers a mighty, crashing release of soul-wringing, meat-eating noise to resolve its complex, tension-building miniaturism."