After Ágætis, the sound-massive, surging, triumphal melancholic and soothing and mostly major-key wreathed in strings and horns and ripe with melodrama and headlocking you into transcendence-is a global phenomenon. It is an album that has terraformed our landscape-so much of our lives now sounds like it, from Nissan commercials to “Planet Earth” documentaries to the long trail of ads that could not procure Sigur Rós’ approval and went about constructing benign replicas of Sigur Rós songs instead.īefore Ágætis, post-rock was a niche concern, a tiny sub-sub-genre centered around a dozen or so bands in England and North America- Stereolab, Bark Psychosis and a few others in London Tortoise and Gastr del Sol in Chicago Godspeed You! Black Emperor in Montreal. If we now live in a world of small, soft drones, a pruned garden of “Lush Lofi” and “Ambient Chill” and “Ethereal Vibes” Spotify playlists, we can blame this condition, at least in part, on the impact of Ágætis byrjun. It’s alarming to consider, from the vantage of 2019, the degree to which he seems to have accomplished his mission. The singer posted a salvo on the band’s website prior to Agaetis’ release: “We are simply gonna change music forever, and the way people think about music.” But the dismal showing left no seeming dent on young Jónsi Birgisson’s confidence. Their first record, 1997’s Von, was dark and, by the standards of what they became famous for, positively screechy: Back then, they were inspired by the hurtling propulsion of Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine, bands that generated soothing textures from cacophony. This 20th anniversary edition celebrates the shock to the senses that this album truly is in addition to the remastered album, it includes a 1999 live performance at the Islenska Operan as well as a number of demos.With their second album, Ágætis byrjun, Sigur Rós knew only that they wanted to make things bigger. Whether it’s the impressive falsetto and heady chorus of Svefn-g-englar, the refined violins of Staralfur or the faux-jazz with a touch of trip-hop in Hjartao Hamast, Sigur Ros’ magnum opus is just one gorgeous idea after the next. But under the guise of an experiment lab for the mad scientist, Agætis byrjun ("a good beginning" in English) marries real songs with solid harmonic constructions. Like with shoegaze, layer after layer of the Reykjavík collective’s light electro creates a unique hypnotizing effect, similar to the echoes featured in Brian Eno’s work. Rock? New Age? Post-rock? Trippy? Progressive? Psychedelic on Xanax? Or something even more alien? Sigur Ros’ second album has retained the same extra-terrestrial quality since its release in June 1999. See More Your browser does not support the audio element. This 20th anniversary edition celebrates the shock to the senses that this album truly is in addition to the remastered album, it includes a 1999 live performance at the Islenska Operan as well as a number of demos.
SIGUR RÓS ÁGÆTIS BYRJUN ALBUM COVER DOWNLOAD
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