Sigur Ros is back, and this time, they are giving their songs titles.
Fans of the Icelandic group will recall that their last album, 2002's ( )
not only lacks names for each of its eight tracks, but the album's liner notes are blank because the songs do not have proper lyrics. In comparison, the band's latest release, Takk... almost could be considered mainstream.
Almost, except with Takk... the band has fashioned yet another excellent, beguiling album full of serene, ambient moments and soaring, epic passages. Overall, though, the album is lighter than its predecessor, with more piano and strings than guitars.
This is a hard album to examine track by track; many of the songs lead into each other, and Sigur Ros is hardly what one would call a singles band. That being said, some tracks do stand out: Hoppipolla is the band's equivalent of a stadium anthem, complete with a catchy keyboard part, strings and even horns. In the hands of another, lesser group, this song would probably be a clichéd, overly-bombastic number that would play every hour, on the hour, on music channel video shows these days.
Other standouts on the album include Svo Hljott
a song that starts off fairly low-key but gradually grows into an excellent guitar-driven tune that recalls the best of ( ) and Glosoli.
A few tracks are too short to make much of an impression. The album's title track lasts a little under two minutes, and while its ambience is pleasant, Sigur Ros is a band that requires a much larger canvas. Mea Bloanasir clocks in at a little over two minutes and is really just an extension of Hoppipolla
the preceding song. Again, this album is much easier to appreciate if it is listened to from start to finish.
With or without song titles, Sigur Ros is still one of the most interesting and hypnotic-sounding bands working today, and fans and music-lovers in general would do well to give Takk... a listen.
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Ben Saylor
