Sigur Ros: "Valtari"

I remember when Sigur Ros' last studio album came out. I debated long and hard whether I should listen to the full-length stream of "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" or wait another week until the official release. Eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I spent considerable time with the low-quality stream. I recall being hesitant at first because the record was so much different from it's successor, "Takk".

"Takk" is, in my humble opinion, probably the best record ever made. Sounds like lunatic hyperbole, doesn't it? I don't expect anyone to jump on the bandwagon...Even now I can hear the choruses of "are you crazy?" So be it. There's a spirit about their 4th album that moves me every single time I hear it (and trust me I've listened to it countless times). There's not a single moment on the entire album that fails to impress. It flows seamlessly from song to song, an hour passes and you wonder where it went off to. Even so, the songs stand on their own every bit as successfully. It's easy to get lost in "Takk". It's epic. There's not an album like it. There will never be another album like it.

So why did so many people expect "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" to be anything like "Takk" or any of their other records, for that matter? Why were so many disappointed? To my credit it didn't take long for me to integrate this observation into my expectations of the music. Okay, so getting used to the first single, "Gobbledigook", was a whole 'nother story, but I won't go into that, other than to say that I still sort of have to mentally disengage that song from the rest of the album before I can appreciate it totally.

I confess I didn't quite "get" "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" on the first few tries either. A couple of songs really stood out for me initially. "Gódan daginn" and the title track, for instance, sounded like exactly what I believed Sigur Ros should sound like. "Ára bátur" showed a lot of promise, but I figured it would take some time to find the right state of mind to appreciate it fully. "All Alright" is such a fragile song that it's hard to listen to even after all this time, though I've toughened up my Inner Child since then to the point where I can actually hear without feeling too unfomfortable. "Inní mér syngur vitleysingur" and "Vid spilum endalaust" were so far out of the expected mold that I thought for sure I wouldn't cotton to them. But guess what? They are a couple of my favorite Sigur Ros tracks now! I don't know how many other people who bought the record and felt let down eventually came around, but I can honestly say that "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" is right up there with "Takk" on my list of best Sigur Ros albums.

It's been three years since all that...three years with Sigur Ros on "hiatus" while Jonsi donned a bird outfit, wrote a slew of really good pop songs and toured the world with a show that was a real life-changing experience...though I wouldn't know that personally, since I was unable to arrange a trip to Laurence, Kansas. My life remains, at least in that aspect, unchanged. Jonsi was relatively "everywhere" last year, from a television ad (???????), a slew of talk shows, even composing the complete score for "We Bought a Zoo". Seeing as how 99% of all Sigur Ros fans love Jonsi and are on board with practically everything he does, one could be forgiven for suspecting a distinct possibility that the next Sigur Ros album ("please, Lord, let there BE a 'next' Sigur Ros album") might just contain some pop elements. After all, there were indeed a few songs he was playing that could well have been proper Sigur Ros numbers ("Tornado" & "Grow Till Tall", for instance).

Three years gone. Prayers are answered. And no, there will be no "Takk" sequel. Not even a ""Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust" " sequel. No "( )" sequel and no "Ágætis byrjun" sequel. Nothing that bears any resemblance whatsoever to Jonsi's "Go" stuff. Instead...

"Valtari". Not since "Von" has there been a Sigur Ros album so challenging, so demanding of your complete and total attention. If I may speak only for myself, it's a DIFFICULT album. Perhaps some of the difficulty is the afore-mentioned process of trying to seperate "Sigur Ros A" from "Sigur Ros B". But it's hard because you really do have to LISTEN to get the desired effected. You can't hit the "play" button, settle back and read a good book. Not to say that a couple of the songs in the second half don't make beautiful ambient music. They certainly do. But unless you're concentrating on the sounds as they come out of the air, following without trying to comprehend them, you won't get pulled quite as deep into the experience.

I've read a few reviews of the record and for the most part I don't think they've given it the credit it deserves.  That's not to say that the opinions haven't been favorable. I guess 3 1/2 out of 5 stars in Rolling Stone is nothing to scoff at, seeing as how a lot of REALLY good albums pull "only" 3. Spin gives "Valtari" 7 out of 10, which seems more realistic but their website doesn't show the actual review so I don't know what their writer is judging. Pitchfork has even less love, with only a 6.1. Even so, such rankings are nothing to be ashamed of. Still I don't think the disc has been received in the way it should have been.

And this is why...

I saw a reviewer on YouTube give his take on the album. Somewhere lost in the typical "record review jargon" the reviewer was spurting he said, and to paraphrase only slightly, "'Valtari' isn't my favorite album in Sigur Ros' catalog"... I thought, "Dude! The record just came out two weeks ago!" The guy struck me as being a fan and since he spoke in terms of "favorites" I assumed that he had the band's other discs ranked in some semblance of preference. Who knows, maybe his initial instincts will serve him faithfully and it won't become an album that, in his opinion, won't hold it's own with their earlier work.

But, and I've probably said it here already, "Valtari" is not the kind of record you're going to "get" in just a few listens. Though it may not be apparent to many who primarily listen to "popular music", "Valtari" holds a lot in common with modern symphonic music. I can't describe exactly what I mean by that, only to say that the more you listen, the DEEPER you listen, the more you appreciate (ugh! I KNOW I've already said that more than once!!!). Take a symphony by Gustav Mahler. The second one, for instance, aka "Resurrection". It's length is staggering. It violently pulls you into it's world with one of it's primary motifs. Then you practically drown in all the different melodies, textures, etc. until by the end of the piece you're not really sure exactly what you've been through. But you know that there's something, some "things" you've missed. Pieces of a puzzle which, when put together, will make the the artistic vision a bit clearer and the listening experience more fulfilling. With Mahler (and practically all classical music in general) there are a LOT of puzzle pieces. And it's not so much that the pieces "complete" the symphony. You'll eventually learn that the symphony can NEVER be complete. Because it's dependent upon the listener to determine HOW the puzzle pieces fit together. It's an interactive process in which the brain is given free reign to assemble and dissemble sounds and melodies at it's pleasure, at it's whim even. It cannot be complete, but the more you listen the more you are familiar with the possibilities, having noticed or used them before in some combination or another.

This is how I listen to "Valtari". It's no less challenging, in it's way, than Mahler's second. Ian Cohen, in Pitchfork's review, speaks of the album as "leaving you to fashion highlights out of relativity". Maybe I'm just looking for something different in the music I generally listen to but WOW that sounds like it would be AWESOME!!! Isn't that what postmodernism is all about? He describes the music as "work, a trudge, asking for too much by way of demanding nothing concrete." This demand, he feels, is "due to Sigur Ros' unwillingness to exert any sort of artistic will on the listener".

Mr. Cohen, I can understand how you might feel that way, though the assertion that the band is artistically lazy gets under my skin. And I won't insist that "Valtari" is a "maximalist version of  "( )'", even though you think we hardcore Sigur Ros fans might use it as an excuse. I'm surprised you compare it to "( )" after all. Not that you're the only one, but I suppose it's difficult/impossible to find a point of comparison for something like "Valtari" in the entire SR catalog.

There IS NO point of comparison. Listening to "Valtari" IS work, though I would add that it's only a "trudge" for those who think they've already got a firm grip on what this band is all about. Which is not meant to suggest that they haven't crafted a recognizable style and sound in the past. I only mean that if you think you're going to pigeonhole them and put them in a box, you'll be confused when they fly out and you probably won't recognize them anymore. That's the point when you'll have to decide if it's the band you're running with or just the songs. Not to say that it's a bad thing to be "all about the songs". But that's something that hardcore fans of Sigur Ros, and most other bands as well, have gone beyond.

It's at that point when people will say to you, "Oh, well, you'll just like anything that band does, whether it's good or not". On one point that is a correct assessment. Yes, I admit I will like anything Sigur Ros does. They'll put out an album that sounds like death metal cum  Partridge Family and I will listen so hard and so deep and with such respect for what they are capable of that, yes, I'll likely find a lot that appeals to me, even in a record like that!  

Okay, so...the reason I'm writing all this is because a friend of mine asked me to. Well, that's  not quite true...he asked me what I thought of the album. There's no false humility in claiming that my opinion was especially important to him. I was the one who introduced Sigur Ros to him. He happened to be one of the lucky ones who walked into the store while I was playing "Aegetis Byrjun" on the stereo. He fell in love with the band there and then and has since seen them several times (a fact which has never failed to rankle me, as I've only seen them twice). Since then he's asked for my take on every new Sigur Ros album that's come around the bend. He said he was slightly underwhelmed with "Valtari". Or at least his first impressions weren't as favorable as they had been with previous records.

Of the "Sigur-Ros-Can-Do-No-Wrong" fan type, I had the primal urge to defend it...even though I was somewhat underwhelmed myself. That's where all this "give it a few listens before you judge" comes from, I'm sure.  I've said it, I've repeated it, I've implied it...the plea "don't give up on it so quickly" is all I can offer, but I think it's valid. I believe this album will reveal itself slowly, as the band members themselves have said.

Having been almost a month now since hearing the LP in it's entirety, the question is "Well? How did it hold up for you? Was it worth the time and effort to sit through the whole thing as many times as you have?"

Yes, it has. Although I don't think I've even broken the surface of what it has to offer I have nevertheless found myself in a place where I'm comfortable and, how should I say it? Prepared for where it will lead through the days to come. At first it sounded almost unfinished. Now I can appreciate a sense of sparseness for the sounds to float within, seldom anchored by gravity. There are still a couple of things about the record that disappoint. The mixing/production quality on "Varúð" is, to my ears, atrocious. It is possible that Alex Somers & the band did this on purpose, but this detracts significantly from the song, IMO. There are other places that the production could be, once again IMO, improved. Nothing that would completely ruin the overall experience, though. Also it just doesn't feel right to me for the last three songs to be completely devoid of  a "proper" vocal part. "Proper" as opposed to the voice being used as an effect, which is all very nice, but one primary reason I love Sigur Ros is Jonsi's voice so I was kind of hoping it would put in at least one more appearance before the album's finish.

As for the individual songs... "Valtari" rises out of the mist with a song that translates as "I Breathe". "Ég anda" sounds like a house filled with ghosts. Disembodied voices floating in a large, dark room. I don't usually think of music in terms of "thought pictures" (for lack of a better term), but I can't help but envision these wraiths trapped in time and space, for some reason tethered to the world, unable to slink into eternity where they belong. The lead vocal comes in and I imagine it's an incantation chanted over the spirits, a spell to melt the cord and usher them from a prison they've almost grown used to. "Ég anda" is one of three songs that I immediately enjoyed, that only took a couple of listens before they hit.

"Ekki Múkk" is one of the three, though it had a head start, being the first song to leak from the album. As with it's predecessor, "Ekki Múkk" rises up from silence with an eerie feel. There is a similarity, for me at least, to the material on Jonsi and Alex's "Riceboy Sleeps" album, which is perfectly fine with me, since that one has grown on me to a marvelous degree since it's release. The "ace in the hole" for this song are the chilling string arrangements from Amina. Jonsi shows off his ability to hold a musical note until cows come home. Such an awesome song, I don't know that I'll cotton to any of the others as I have this one.

There's really not much to the next track, "Varúð", other than a nice three note chorus from what sounds like a boys choir. It builds and builds and builds but inevitably reaches an anti-climax. I keep expecting Orri to kick into a heavy duty full drum assault but all I get is the pounding of what sounds like a tribal war drum. Nothing wrong with war drums and the such...I hear them more as "build up" and not "climax" (haha). Its not the main reason I'm ultimately dissatisfied with the song, which is the production. Since I've already commented on it I will move on..

Next up is the other song that I immediately loved. A truly beautiful piece of music, "Rembihnútur" spends it's initial half gathering up the sounds and snatches of melody that will eventually dominate the song. Jonsi sings a soft lullaby and then it all erupts into one of the most beautiful melodies I've ever heard from him. The harmonies and multi-tracking only sweeten the sound. Maybe it is those harmonies that remind me, for some inconceivable reason, of the Beach Boys, with their tight vocal interaction. I felt the same way about "Hoppípolla" when I first heard it. Once again, I have no idea why I make the mental connection, as I am not not a fan of the Beach Boys. I do, however, acknowledge the awesome quality of their combined voices.

I don't have the vinyl version of "Valtari" (as I have not owned a turntable in decades), but it's easy for me to hear the dividing line of side A and side B on the CD. As such I have had a difficult time getting past "side A". That's not to say that the last four songs are inferior to the first in any way. Still, I feel kind of drained by the time I get to "Dauðalogn", which is not a good thing seeing as how powerful the song is. It doesn't help either that I can't shake a melodic resemblance to "All Alright" that makes me suspect lazy recycling. I know Sigur Ros has far too much integrity to have ever done something like that so I have done my best to separate the lines and have paid more attention to the expressive qualities of the vocal. Using this approach it's easy for me to hear "Dauðalogn" as one of their best songs, able to hold it's own with just about anything they've done.

Before the album came out the band licensed the CW Network show "Vampire Diaries" a portion of "Dauðalogn". It was used in a scene where a two people are seen in a car underwater, having obviously just crashed into it. There are long shots of a woman, bubbles slowly exiting mouth and nose, sitting resigned to her fate with a look in her eye that is chilling. And there in the background is Jonsi singing, Icelandic or glossolia God only knows, and it just goes so well with the images I can't help but be impressed. I watched that and I kept repeating to myself, "DON'T think of this every time you hear the song!" I hate to have a video producer's vision provide the soundtrack to any song I listen to. But it's been hard to keep from it. The fact that it's a CW show makes it even worse. But what's done is done. I've found a way to mentally evict the offensive elements while still keeping the elegiac sense that was so awesome in the juxtaposition of song and drama.

"Varðeldur", one of the last three tracks, all basically instrumental, sounds to me like little more than a lengthy epilogue of it's predecessor. It took a few spins of the entire CD before I realized that's not what it actually is. On it's own merits the song is just this side of ambient, something you'd find on a Brian Eno album. The same holds true of "Valtari", the album's namesake which translates into "Steam Roller". Not exactly "steam roller" as you'd expect with a metal album, still there does seem to be a slow, lumbering motion that gives the unlikely title credibility.

Bringing it all back home is an experimental number called "Fjögur píanó". "Four Pianos". The idea of the song was for each individual musician to play an uncomplicated piano part to a simple loop. None of them would be in the same room at the same time and none would hear the parts that were played by each other. When the four completed this process they mixed the parts together and the result is "Fjögur píanó". Knowing that gives a much deeper appreciation to what they've attempted with the experiment. I could go into my whole spiritual mumbo jumbo about the source of inspiration and how it might work itself out in a situation like this but I'll spare you. Suffice to say it's a very enjoyable number and a successful outcome for the test. The pianos fade into a last spill of ambiance that eases the listener out of "Valtari" back into the mists from which it came.

And there it goes. Like the snake eating it's own tail, drawing you, beckoning you to play it again. To travel full circle again, finding bits and pieces of sonic bliss you missed the last time around. Worth the trip. Yes, I say it's well worth the round trip.