Iceland has always had an air of mystery about it.
Maybe it’s because of the huge mantle plume, an enormous seafloor heat-flow
rising beneath the island.
For the uninitiated, the band’s penchant fusion of classical, experimental
etheral sounscapes are textured by lead singer Jonsi’s school boy falsetto.
Best known for their minimalist approach found on Takk (2005), they now
release a collection of previously unreleased studio material and acoustic
live studio versions, called Hvarf/Heim (roughly translated as Haven/Home),
it shows a more expansive side to their work, occasionally wandering to
grander efforts than previously revealed.
Instrumentally they use bowed guitar, glockenspiel, organs, oboe, drums and
array of others to create this mindblowing contemporary masterpiece. If you
can slog it out with tracks running from four to nigh-on ten minutes, you’ll
find a feast of music to really enjoy. Some might argue this is self-indulgeneca
at its extreme.
Maybe so, but nevertheless this a breathtaking sonic experience like no other,
with a strong contender as one the best albums of 2007. This aloof and enigmatic
quartet are refreshingly genuine songsmiths of the highest order – believe me
CD 1 – Hvarf is an epic. It starts in typical laid back fashion with
Jonsi’s angelic larynx drifting sweetly with the understated ambience, making
it an ‘alertnative’ Christmas option to the regular Xmas fodder.
The pace and feel stays the same for Straralfur but rises in a kind of
Coldplay harmonic template only to beefed-up by some enormous stadium guitar
work. A beautiful and gentle glockenspiel disguises he eventual wall of sound
that follows, then dropping to a more melodic and ambling pace on the see-saw
sonics of I Gaer. Again it’s another angelic mood on Von with gradual
restained dynamics streamed by a huge enveloping and haunting sound that
supports Jonsi’s glorious falsetto on this near 10-minute journey. For the
close, you might think of Pink Floyd. In fact the entire album is ‘slightly’
reminiscent of Floyd’s Echoes, possibly because of the duration.
Jonsi reaches his best moment, (and there are many to be savoured here) for
yet another epic – Hafsol. It chumps along with string bursts and ghostly
drums tinkling until it peaks with a massive crescendo that tails off quietly,
which is how it all began. Unforgettable.
CD 2 – Heim kicks - in with piano and sumptuous instrumentation, which
is their trademark style , it seems to drift aimlessly, but beautifully,
succeeded by an understated and dreamy ballad called Staralfur that displays
their classical influences with masses of swirling strings. Agaetis Byrjun,
an oldie, is quite sensation.
Another drifter with piano, and Jonsi’s vocals really put to the test. Von,
the title track to their 1997 debut is cleverly re-worked, boosted by a
string quartet on top of their ambient game, allowing Jonsi to add his
undisputable vocal magic once more.
Lyrically, I have no idea what’s going on here, but it reamins magical across
both CDs. Outstanding.
File under: Learn Icelandic for extra pleasure / Headphone music.
Also, note that there's a Culture Show special about the band on BBC2,
Friday 4th January at 11.35pm.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
