Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun (1999)



I really don’t quite know how to approach reviewing a Sigur Ros album because what their music makes me feel is difficult to describe, but here it goes. It was a choice between this and ( ), ( ) being the first album of theirs I bought and which really opened my ears to them. However it was Ágætis Byrjun which impacted me the most and continues to be my Sigur Ros album of choice to this day. Listening to the first song proper (after the intro track) ‘Svefn-g-englar’ it feels like you are in some sort of slow-motion dream. In fact I used to fall asleep listening to this album for a period and I used to let my imagination go into free-flow, which combined with oncoming sleepiness resulted in what was like a surreal and hazy flow of images in my imagination. The song that really takes your breath away however is ‘Ny Batteri’ with its soothing ambient intro and powerful, crashing dynamics later in the song. It’s pretty much Sigur Ros at their ultimate best and for people who are still curious to hear them this song demonstrates what they are all about. It’s powerful and emotional stuff. The reverb-heavy ‘Olsen Olsen’ recalls the dreamy, slow-motion sounds of ‘Svefn-g-englar’ while the title track soothes you almost like a lullaby. The perfect sounds really for drifting off to sleep or for just chilling the fuck out.

This album really is 'A Good Beginning' as the album title translated into English suggests. While it was not the band’s first album it was the first album of theirs to be released internationally and was the album that exposed them to the wider public in the few years after its release. The album also feels unbelievably fresh despite being recorded over thirteen years ago. The timeless sound of the music makes it feel like it could have been released at any time since then; it’s definitely a sign that the band did something right on this album.