Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilurn Endalaust
EMI
By Andrew P Street
In 2005 I wrote a piece for another magazine in which I argued that a dog with a series of adjectives on cards could easily review Sigur Ros' Takk: drop "glacial, "shimmering", transluscent" and so on into a template and you're left with an unassailable description of the disc. And to be honest I was looking forward to using that joke again, because I only have a limited number of them and need to get as much mileage out of each as I can.
However, Sigur Ros have rather unkindly thwarted me by releasing a - could it be? - pop record. With songs. That have choruses. In fact, if Takk was the (yes, crystalline; yes, ethereal) winter, then Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust is the joyous first week of summer.
‘Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur' begins with a sampled trumpet fanfare before an insistent piano riff takes over to build to a triumphant crescendo that The Polyphonic Spree would salute, and even the quieter moments, like the brushed drums, bass chords and subdued melody of ‘Gódan Daginn', positively gallop when compared with previous discs.
Of course, like the Icelandic summer itself, there's a sense that these joys are fleeting and that rosebuds must be gathered while ye may, infusing the entire album with a bittersweet melancholy. Still, you should have seen that other review I wrote. It was hilarious. Honest.