For anyone who’s never being to their part of the universe welcome to the land of Sigur Rós. It’s a barren place but one where the lonely yet inspirational souls that live there do their best to make you feel welcome. In truth Sigur Rós are a quartet from Reykjavík, Iceland and have no peers. They make the most wondrous music imaginable. The words they use are for the most part defunct, or gibberish as the band describe it, a hybrid not accessible to anyone. While this may smack of smug elitism to some, looking at it another way it would be pretty nigh impossible to find the right words to soothe the uniformly beautiful music that Sigur Rós make. So lead singer Jónsi Birgisson’s utterances never deflect attention with, say, boy meets girl scenarios instead they become part of the cathedral of sound. It has been 2 years since their last release ‘Takk’ and the follow up, which is due out next month, will be a mix of the visual (‘Heima’ tour documentary) and audio (the soundrack ‘Hvarf-Heim’). Sigur Rós videos tend to be open mouthed affairs so expect plenty of tear inducing moments as the band play shows across their homeland. ‘Starálfur’ is a track from the bands debut ‘Ágætis Byrjun’ which still sounds utterly magical 8 years on. KD

Sigur Rós - Starálfur all is not lost

Watch The Trailer For Heima

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Songs: Sigur Rós
Year: 1999