Anyone expecting Sigur Ros to have abandoned their emotional and majestic approach will think again after hearing the opening bars of their new album, ( ). When Sigur Ros released their second long player Agaetis Byrjun back in 1999, they caught everyone on the hop. Though it was pretty much the first anyone outside of their native Iceland had heard of them, the quartet had been studiously honing their sound for the last five years, developing a spellbinding mix of rock guitars scraped with violin bows, angelic falsetto vocals and dramatic builds of percussion fuelled tension that offered all the ineffable quietude of religious music.

( ) is a slightly rawer, undoubtedly heavier experience than its predecessor, but it still manages to shine a torch into the darkest corner of our souls, describing accurately the aching beauty and the hopeless anguish that makes up the contradictory essence of human existence. Experimental flourishes hark back to their eldritch debut album Von, and Jonsi's vocals--which have devolved over two albums from Icelandic to his own "Hopelandic" half-language--finally melt into lyric-less harmonic textures that still float across the band's earthy tapestries as naturally as clouds cross the night sky. Rest assured though that any changes are slight; the melancholy brilliance that made Agaetis Bryjun such a life-changing event is still very much the driving force behind Sigur Ros's music, making this new album every bit as essential as the last. --Paul Sullivan

Like a beautiful trance, 18 Jul 2008
It's hard to really put the experience of listening to this album into words. It is just a relentlessly gorgeous soundscape, even by Sigur Ros' own high standards.

Of all their albums, this is the most seamless. As many listeners have commented, the songs seem to blend into each other, as if they are different movements of one work, and the album as a whole simply encapsulates me.

That is not to say that the mood is a constant throughout. Rather, the melancholy of Track 1 gives way to the gentle and beautiful optimism of Track 3, whilst the mood of Track 4 drifts between the two, in a wonderfully passive, relaxed way. The second half of the album, in contrast, is considerably darker, whilst maintaining the beauty of the first half. It is the darker songs which mark ( ) from Agaetis Byrjun and Takk. Due to this, the album comes across (at least to this listener) as the purest, most emotional, most revealing album by Sigur Ros, and possibly of any band I have heard.

This is a quite exceptional album.



the sound of snowblind angels flying into the sun..., 20 Nov 2007
to appreciate this album, you must listen to it from start to finish, it is utterly sublime.

( ... ), 26 Oct 2007
First of all, don't be scared that it will be depressing. It's dark, emotional and immensely powerful, is what it is. This isn't an album to share headphones for at the bus stop, or put on shuffle on your MP3 player with any other tracks. Possibly the only way to do it is listen to the whole thing, in order, in bed in the middle of the night when no one else can hear you. Or maybe on a plane. Or sitting up a tree in a forest after a long bike ride, where birdsong can add to it. They say you're meant to write your own lyrics on the ethereal pages of the booklet (be careful taking this out - it's fragile), and maybe I will one day, but at the moment I'd rather just do so in my head. Everyone on Earth should listen to this album at least once, and then they might just relax even for an hour and a bit. Track 8 is possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The only problem I can find is that of how to recommend it to your friends - I mean, how do you say it?

strange beauty, 28 Sep 2007
Writing reviews is not something I normally do, but since this album is in my opinion a masterpiece in very many ways, I feel compelled. It is one of few in my collection of thousands that really stands out above the rest.

If like me, you think music has the power to evoke places, mood and atmosphere, then you simply must buy this.

I have never come across any music from any other genre that can make you both depressed and elated - at the same time. Its power is awesome. It is utterly hypnotic. These guys from Iceland take you to strange, compelling places you've never been to before - but like flames to moths, you will surely be drawn to those bright, yet dangerously beautiful places again and again.

Be warned though - flying too close can be hazardous...

Powerful and Evocative..., 02 Mar 2007
...is two adjectives that come mind for this record. This was my first exposition to Sigur Rós. And on first listen, I was rather bemused. No really I was, the first time I listened, I am not sure I knew what to think, It didn't really make any sense, to the point where it stayed in dark deep bottoms of my CD cupboard until a few months later. Indeed I thought I had made terrible mistake, buying it, after all what attracted me that strange afternoon in HMV, was the beautiful packaging. And Indeed it is beautifully packaged, a crystal white slip case, with paranthesis cut out, covers the jewel case, which itself has just contains blank book of black and white artwork on what I can only describe is soft parchment. You could say it is represenation of what is to come, once you slip it into your cd player. The sparse emptiness of the packaging is certainly a visual metaphor, for the dark empy heavy drones that precede on the album.

Having put the CD on few months later, I finally began to appreciate these were more than ramdom drones, but evocative emotions that transcended language barriers. The album is divided into two parts seperated by a 30 second silence after track 4. It begins with "untitled 1" or "vaka" as known as its known by its working title, which starts off with a desolate piano intro. A feeling of disconnection and emptiness is what drives the both halves of the album, sparse drum beats float, while Birgissons "hopelandic" falsetto coo's lonely in a gaseous depth strings and other instruements. The second half is rather more aggressive, and definetley more heavy, with the guitars coming through more clearly particularly as the band descend into "untitled 8" (Popplagið"), which has the most unhinged and what I can only describe as the most narcotic drumming climax I have ever heard. Overall this album is definately a slow burner, and is not for the unadventurous, its not an easy album to like and probablly won't win over many new Sigur Rós fans, but it is in my view the most powerful and evocative of those in Sigur Rós' discography so far.

Highlights...
Its hard to really point out highlights in this album, as it is really concise and so well balanced, "untitled 4" and "untitled 8", definitely stand out, but otherwise this album is made to be, and is best heard so, all the way through.

Reykjavík-based noise quartet Sigur Ros are the biggest band in their native Iceland, which should say much, much more about the collective insanity of that earthquake-ridden, blizzard-beaten crag of an island than anything to do with Sigur Ros' sound. But in their music, Sigur Ros reflect all the breathtaking glory of the Icelandic wastes--a fairy-tale explosion of unhinged elemental majesty that's finally crystalised here, their debut European release. Poised somewhere between the haunting soundscapes of Labradford and the lilting Celtic falsetto of Enya, Agaetis Byrjun is a truly breathtaking listen. Frontman Jon Por Birgisson sings in a language that Sigur Ros dub Hopelandic--an otherworldly mutation of Icelandic, sung in the falsetto cadence of angels; similarly, he plays his guitar with a violin bow, opening the floodgates for brilliant waves of feedback. And while it's the opening "Svefn-G-Englar" that's Sigur Ros' defining moment to date, there's far more that Agaetis Byrjun has to offer; the pomp and flourish of a full orchestra on "Flugufrelsarinn", or the awe-inspiring near-religious mantra of "Ny Batteri". --Louis Pattison

Like a beautiful trance, 18 Jul 2008
It's hard to really put the experience of listening to this album into words. It is just a relentlessly gorgeous soundscape, even by Sigur Ros' own high standards.

Of all their albums, this is the most seamless. As many listeners have commented, the songs seem to blend into each other, as if they are different movements of one work, and the album as a whole simply encapsulates me.

That is not to say that the mood is a constant throughout. Rather, the melancholy of Track 1 gives way to the gentle and beautiful optimism of Track 3, whilst the mood of Track 4 drifts between the two, in a wonderfully passive, relaxed way. The second half of the album, in contrast, is considerably darker, whilst maintaining the beauty of the first half. It is the darker songs which mark ( ) from Agaetis Byrjun and Takk. Due to this, the album comes across (at least to this listener) as the purest, most emotional, most revealing album by Sigur Ros, and possibly of any band I have heard.

This is a quite exceptional album.



the sound of snowblind angels flying into the sun..., 20 Nov 2007
to appreciate this album, you must listen to it from start to finish, it is utterly sublime.

( ... ), 26 Oct 2007
First of all, don't be scared that it will be depressing. It's dark, emotional and immensely powerful, is what it is. This isn't an album to share headphones for at the bus stop, or put on shuffle on your MP3 player with any other tracks. Possibly the only way to do it is listen to the whole thing, in order, in bed in the middle of the night when no one else can hear you. Or maybe on a plane. Or sitting up a tree in a forest after a long bike ride, where birdsong can add to it. They say you're meant to write your own lyrics on the ethereal pages of the booklet (be careful taking this out - it's fragile), and maybe I will one day, but at the moment I'd rather just do so in my head. Everyone on Earth should listen to this album at least once, and then they might just relax even for an hour and a bit. Track 8 is possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The only problem I can find is that of how to recommend it to your friends - I mean, how do you say it?

strange beauty, 28 Sep 2007
Writing reviews is not something I normally do, but since this album is in my opinion a masterpiece in very many ways, I feel compelled. It is one of few in my collection of thousands that really stands out above the rest.

If like me, you think music has the power to evoke places, mood and atmosphere, then you simply must buy this.

I have never come across any music from any other genre that can make you both depressed and elated - at the same time. Its power is awesome. It is utterly hypnotic. These guys from Iceland take you to strange, compelling places you've never been to before - but like flames to moths, you will surely be drawn to those bright, yet dangerously beautiful places again and again.

Be warned though - flying too close can be hazardous...

Powerful and Evocative..., 02 Mar 2007
...is two adjectives that come mind for this record. This was my first exposition to Sigur Rós. And on first listen, I was rather bemused. No really I was, the first time I listened, I am not sure I knew what to think, It didn't really make any sense, to the point where it stayed in dark deep bottoms of my CD cupboard until a few months later. Indeed I thought I had made terrible mistake, buying it, after all what attracted me that strange afternoon in HMV, was the beautiful packaging. And Indeed it is beautifully packaged, a crystal white slip case, with paranthesis cut out, covers the jewel case, which itself has just contains blank book of black and white artwork on what I can only describe is soft parchment. You could say it is represenation of what is to come, once you slip it into your cd player. The sparse emptiness of the packaging is certainly a visual metaphor, for the dark empy heavy drones that precede on the album.

Having put the CD on few months later, I finally began to appreciate these were more than ramdom drones, but evocative emotions that transcended language barriers. The album is divided into two parts seperated by a 30 second silence after track 4. It begins with "untitled 1" or "vaka" as known as its known by its working title, which starts off with a desolate piano intro. A feeling of disconnection and emptiness is what drives the both halves of the album, sparse drum beats float, while Birgissons "hopelandic" falsetto coo's lonely in a gaseous depth strings and other instruements. The second half is rather more aggressive, and definetley more heavy, with the guitars coming through more clearly particularly as the band descend into "untitled 8" (Popplagið"), which has the most unhinged and what I can only describe as the most narcotic drumming climax I have ever heard. Overall this album is definately a slow burner, and is not for the unadventurous, its not an easy album to like and probablly won't win over many new Sigur Rós fans, but it is in my view the most powerful and evocative of those in Sigur Rós' discography so far.

Highlights...
Its hard to really point out highlights in this album, as it is really concise and so well balanced, "untitled 4" and "untitled 8", definitely stand out, but otherwise this album is made to be, and is best heard so, all the way through.

Not sure if I completely get this music?!, 25 Aug 2008
I must admit that I don't know if I completely understand this music (yet?). It's kind of like new age Pink Floyd with an Icelandic twist. The reason I say that is because it has such a broad expanse of sound which I do like. I must admit the middle of the album is really worth buying it for - there is such a lot going on it's awesome. However on the down side I feel that some of the tracks are a bit long and seem to have these very strange endings where a load of odd unrelated sounds seem to be tagged on as an after thought. Apart from that it has really grown on me and I think if you like something a bit out of the norm then this may well be for you.

Genius, 15 Jul 2008
Id never heard of this 4 piece band until recently and have since purchased 3 of there albums its so unique

Human music beamed in from a distant galaxy, 04 Jun 2008
Hearing Sigur Ros for the first time , as most of us did when hearing Agaetis byrjun, is akin, i imagine , to not just hearing music beamed down from another planet but hearing music beamed across from the far side of a far distant galaxy. The sort of thing Star Trek "Voyager" might have heard on their sojourn through the delta quadrant.( the cover , featuring a ballpoint pen drawing by a friend of the band further ratifies the music's alien ambience) The nearest comparison, and i realise that i am being far from being original here, are The Cocteau Twins , though even their celestial otherworldliness does,nt really compare to the Icelandic quartet.
Agaetis byrjun (Icelandic for An alright start) was originally released in June 1999 and is actually the bands second album , though i was under the misconception for some considerable time that it was their debut. With reference to the Cocteau Twins comparison their actual debut "Von Brigoi" is actually more like them mixed in with ambient drifts not unlike certain Eno or Seefeel. This album though is virtually unique. The astonishing falsetto vocals of Jon Birgisson soar over his cello bowed guitars and the diffuse keyboards of Kjsrtan Sveinsson . Abyss plunging bass lines keep the whole anchored somewhere adjacent to terra firma.
Further enhancing the music's obtuse quality's are degrees of self-reference. The first track "Intro" is,nt listed on the packaging and while most of the songs are sung in Icelandic ( though , even in English they would be indecipherable i feel) "Olsen Olsen" is sung in the gibberish language Vonlenska- which the band used for the entire follow up album ( ). The band also pull off sly technical tricks like making the strings in "Staralfur" palindromic or the fact that "Avalon" is in fact the aforementioned tracked played at a quarter of it,s speed.
Putting all this clever muso mumbo jumbo to one side though the real glory of Sigur Ros is the breathtaking emotional clout of the songs. "Svefn-g- englar" ( It translates as sleepwalkers) is consummately spine tingling -the sort of track i never ever tire of hearing . "Staraflur" has lump in the throat panoramic strings while on "Flugufrelsarinn" ( The Fly Freer) they are more sombre and elegiac like a Morricone soundtrack.
Agaetis byrjun remains Sigur Ros,s finest achievement, certainly better than the sombre ( ) and while "Takk" was a return to form it never matches the grace and insidious alien textures of this album. Whatever planet, galaxy , cosmos Agaetis byrnum is beamed from it remains a vital thrilling human experience.



ethereal and dreamy... , 07 May 2008
After debut album Von appeared domestically, this one was expected to be Sigur Ros' global take over and yes... it was; definitely a perfectly crafted piece, it placed the boys as best current artsy band. Close your eyes and loose yourself over it... pictures of Iceland will come to your head, sometimes as sweet as a lullaby (Svefn-g-englar), sometimes playfully explosive (Olsen-Olsen); a soundtrack for heaven?... I hope so, it would be great to ascend heavens with a score like this... If you are to start with Sigur Ros, get this one first and share it with as much people as possible, you will never regret and you will put some light into the darkness.

Best place to start, 14 Jan 2008
I cannot add any further to what the previous 70 odd reviewers have already said, but being a big fan of Sigur Ros for some years I can advise anyone wishing to purchase this bands music for the first time that this album is the finest place to start. Previous and Subsequent albums are still full of their high quality individual material, but just lack in the variety of content of Agaetis Byrjun.

To the casual observer, the holidays are the happiest, jolliest time of the year: the blinking lights, the merry carols, the parties, the good cheer on every street corner and in every shop. However, the statistics tell us that, for many, the holidays are the time of year when depression reaches its annual peak. It is for these people, then, that American slow-core three-piece Low have released Christmas, their collection of heartbreakingly downbeat holiday songs. The eight songs on this mini album are a mix of new compositions--"If You Were Born Today", the sparkling "Just Like Christmas"--and traditional favourites--"Silent Night" and their sublime take on "Little Drummer Boy". Their version of Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas" is particularly gorgeous: Mimi Parker's vocals drawing out the pain of holiday loneliness over the sparsest of arrangements, the whole thing sounding like Mazzy Star on tranquilisers. This is not an album for festive gatherings; rather, it's the perfect escape from the mania of the season. Quietly compelling, touching and, above all, perhaps the most moving and sincere Christmas album you're likely to hear. --Robert Burrow

Like a beautiful trance, 18 Jul 2008
It's hard to really put the experience of listening to this album into words. It is just a relentlessly gorgeous soundscape, even by Sigur Ros' own high standards.

Of all their albums, this is the most seamless. As many listeners have commented, the songs seem to blend into each other, as if they are different movements of one work, and the album as a whole simply encapsulates me.

That is not to say that the mood is a constant throughout. Rather, the melancholy of Track 1 gives way to the gentle and beautiful optimism of Track 3, whilst the mood of Track 4 drifts between the two, in a wonderfully passive, relaxed way. The second half of the album, in contrast, is considerably darker, whilst maintaining the beauty of the first half. It is the darker songs which mark ( ) from Agaetis Byrjun and Takk. Due to this, the album comes across (at least to this listener) as the purest, most emotional, most revealing album by Sigur Ros, and possibly of any band I have heard.

This is a quite exceptional album.



the sound of snowblind angels flying into the sun..., 20 Nov 2007
to appreciate this album, you must listen to it from start to finish, it is utterly sublime.

( ... ), 26 Oct 2007
First of all, don't be scared that it will be depressing. It's dark, emotional and immensely powerful, is what it is. This isn't an album to share headphones for at the bus stop, or put on shuffle on your MP3 player with any other tracks. Possibly the only way to do it is listen to the whole thing, in order, in bed in the middle of the night when no one else can hear you. Or maybe on a plane. Or sitting up a tree in a forest after a long bike ride, where birdsong can add to it. They say you're meant to write your own lyrics on the ethereal pages of the booklet (be careful taking this out - it's fragile), and maybe I will one day, but at the moment I'd rather just do so in my head. Everyone on Earth should listen to this album at least once, and then they might just relax even for an hour and a bit. Track 8 is possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The only problem I can find is that of how to recommend it to your friends - I mean, how do you say it?

strange beauty, 28 Sep 2007
Writing reviews is not something I normally do, but since this album is in my opinion a masterpiece in very many ways, I feel compelled. It is one of few in my collection of thousands that really stands out above the rest.

If like me, you think music has the power to evoke places, mood and atmosphere, then you simply must buy this.

I have never come across any music from any other genre that can make you both depressed and elated - at the same time. Its power is awesome. It is utterly hypnotic. These guys from Iceland take you to strange, compelling places you've never been to before - but like flames to moths, you will surely be drawn to those bright, yet dangerously beautiful places again and again.

Be warned though - flying too close can be hazardous...

Powerful and Evocative..., 02 Mar 2007
...is two adjectives that come mind for this record. This was my first exposition to Sigur Rós. And on first listen, I was rather bemused. No really I was, the first time I listened, I am not sure I knew what to think, It didn't really make any sense, to the point where it stayed in dark deep bottoms of my CD cupboard until a few months later. Indeed I thought I had made terrible mistake, buying it, after all what attracted me that strange afternoon in HMV, was the beautiful packaging. And Indeed it is beautifully packaged, a crystal white slip case, with paranthesis cut out, covers the jewel case, which itself has just contains blank book of black and white artwork on what I can only describe is soft parchment. You could say it is represenation of what is to come, once you slip it into your cd player. The sparse emptiness of the packaging is certainly a visual metaphor, for the dark empy heavy drones that precede on the album.

Having put the CD on few months later, I finally began to appreciate these were more than ramdom drones, but evocative emotions that transcended language barriers. The album is divided into two parts seperated by a 30 second silence after track 4. It begins with "untitled 1" or "vaka" as known as its known by its working title, which starts off with a desolate piano intro. A feeling of disconnection and emptiness is what drives the both halves of the album, sparse drum beats float, while Birgissons "hopelandic" falsetto coo's lonely in a gaseous depth strings and other instruements. The second half is rather more aggressive, and definetley more heavy, with the guitars coming through more clearly particularly as the band descend into "untitled 8" (Popplagið"), which has the most unhinged and what I can only describe as the most narcotic drumming climax I have ever heard. Overall this album is definately a slow burner, and is not for the unadventurous, its not an easy album to like and probablly won't win over many new Sigur Rós fans, but it is in my view the most powerful and evocative of those in Sigur Rós' discography so far.

Highlights...
Its hard to really point out highlights in this album, as it is really concise and so well balanced, "untitled 4" and "untitled 8", definitely stand out, but otherwise this album is made to be, and is best heard so, all the way through.

Not sure if I completely get this music?!, 25 Aug 2008
I must admit that I don't know if I completely understand this music (yet?). It's kind of like new age Pink Floyd with an Icelandic twist. The reason I say that is because it has such a broad expanse of sound which I do like. I must admit the middle of the album is really worth buying it for - there is such a lot going on it's awesome. However on the down side I feel that some of the tracks are a bit long and seem to have these very strange endings where a load of odd unrelated sounds seem to be tagged on as an after thought. Apart from that it has really grown on me and I think if you like something a bit out of the norm then this may well be for you.

Genius, 15 Jul 2008
Id never heard of this 4 piece band until recently and have since purchased 3 of there albums its so unique

Human music beamed in from a distant galaxy, 04 Jun 2008
Hearing Sigur Ros for the first time , as most of us did when hearing Agaetis byrjun, is akin, i imagine , to not just hearing music beamed down from another planet but hearing music beamed across from the far side of a far distant galaxy. The sort of thing Star Trek "Voyager" might have heard on their sojourn through the delta quadrant.( the cover , featuring a ballpoint pen drawing by a friend of the band further ratifies the music's alien ambience) The nearest comparison, and i realise that i am being far from being original here, are The Cocteau Twins , though even their celestial otherworldliness does,nt really compare to the Icelandic quartet.
Agaetis byrjun (Icelandic for An alright start) was originally released in June 1999 and is actually the bands second album , though i was under the misconception for some considerable time that it was their debut. With reference to the Cocteau Twins comparison their actual debut "Von Brigoi" is actually more like them mixed in with ambient drifts not unlike certain Eno or Seefeel. This album though is virtually unique. The astonishing falsetto vocals of Jon Birgisson soar over his cello bowed guitars and the diffuse keyboards of Kjsrtan Sveinsson . Abyss plunging bass lines keep the whole anchored somewhere adjacent to terra firma.
Further enhancing the music's obtuse quality's are degrees of self-reference. The first track "Intro" is,nt listed on the packaging and while most of the songs are sung in Icelandic ( though , even in English they would be indecipherable i feel) "Olsen Olsen" is sung in the gibberish language Vonlenska- which the band used for the entire follow up album ( ). The band also pull off sly technical tricks like making the strings in "Staralfur" palindromic or the fact that "Avalon" is in fact the aforementioned tracked played at a quarter of it,s speed.
Putting all this clever muso mumbo jumbo to one side though the real glory of Sigur Ros is the breathtaking emotional clout of the songs. "Svefn-g- englar" ( It translates as sleepwalkers) is consummately spine tingling -the sort of track i never ever tire of hearing . "Staraflur" has lump in the throat panoramic strings while on "Flugufrelsarinn" ( The Fly Freer) they are more sombre and elegiac like a Morricone soundtrack.
Agaetis byrjun remains Sigur Ros,s finest achievement, certainly better than the sombre ( ) and while "Takk" was a return to form it never matches the grace and insidious alien textures of this album. Whatever planet, galaxy , cosmos Agaetis byrnum is beamed from it remains a vital thrilling human experience.



ethereal and dreamy... , 07 May 2008
After debut album Von appeared domestically, this one was expected to be Sigur Ros' global take over and yes... it was; definitely a perfectly crafted piece, it placed the boys as best current artsy band. Close your eyes and loose yourself over it... pictures of Iceland will come to your head, sometimes as sweet as a lullaby (Svefn-g-englar), sometimes playfully explosive (Olsen-Olsen); a soundtrack for heaven?... I hope so, it would be great to ascend heavens with a score like this... If you are to start with Sigur Ros, get this one first and share it with as much people as possible, you will never regret and you will put some light into the darkness.

Best place to start, 14 Jan 2008
I cannot add any further to what the previous 70 odd reviewers have already said, but being a big fan of Sigur Ros for some years I can advise anyone wishing to purchase this bands music for the first time that this album is the finest place to start. Previous and Subsequent albums are still full of their high quality individual material, but just lack in the variety of content of Agaetis Byrjun.

For Christmas Past Present and Future, 24 Dec 2007
Christmas again - what better time to review Low's superb festive album which portrays a more common Christmas experience for many than the forced jollity of your Slade or Wizzard mega-hit.

This eight-track CD is a beauty. Four original Low songs show great variety - from the pure pop of `Just Like Christmas' with its sleigh bells ringing to the hauntingly spiritual telling of the Nativity in `Long Way Around the Sea'.

The cover versions of old (roast) chestnuts are simply inspired. `Silent Night' has wonderfully simple acoustic arrangement whilst `Little Drummer Boy' has never sounded like this before. It is drenched in guitar reverb and feedback a la My Bloody Valentine but is incredibly moving.

`Christmas' obviously has special resonance at this time of year but the CD can be enjoyed as much in July as December. It is by turns melancholy, thoughtful, reflective and beautiful. Can you ask for more for Christmas?


Too beautiful to stay awake too, 15 Nov 2006
Even my mum was bowled over by the beauty of the tracks on this albumn - it has been the back drop to some of the most wonderful Christmas days we have ever had. If you ever wanted 'something more' out of Christmas, then put this on once you're full up of turkey and pudding.

Just Like Christmas - All year round, 24 Sep 2004
Oh, the pain of christmas - you can't help thinking that the music perenially droning in the shops and incessantly on Radio and TV helps to explain why Christmas is the season of the year with the highest rate of suicide.

Low's 'Christmas', on the other hand, like Spector's 'Christmas Album' is music to warm your soul instead - an absurdly cheap mini-CD which is one of Low's most pure, self-contained and poignant efforts. Their original compositions here are all full of such emptional depth and a haunting, childlike innocence and honesty - no other band on this planet could produce a jaunty, sleigh-bell driven singalong like 'Just Like Christmas' without being laughed off the face of the earth.

The traditionals are just beautiful: 'Little Drummer Boy', with it's slowed down wall of distorted guitar and thumping drum set against perfectly levelled vocals is an absolute gem and 'Silent Night'- a simple vocal (Alan and Mimi in total intuitive harmony) and acoustic version of this tired standard, is turned into a thing of pure majesty. Likewise, their drastic revision of "Elvis's" 'Blue Christmas' retains the spirit (not the schmaltz)of the original, but takes on a whole other dimension with the minimalistic instrumentation and Mimi's almost sultry vocals. There's more - but you should really hear it yourself.

To be fair, most of Low's CDs leave their listeners only partially won over (some tracks appeal instantly, whilst others just don't resonate with people) but for me, 'Christmas' captures the essence and spirit (and I guess, spirituality) of Low at their absolute best on every single track here - vocal perfection, stark, austere instrumentation, and that special sound (shared in spirit, with the likes of Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, Jesus & Mary Chain, Big Star, Joy Division, Brian Wilson and Phil Spector) that hits you in the head and the heart. Put it this way: any Christmas LP that you want to play (and which still sounds good) in August is got to be worth having. And I've had this for a few years now too...

A glimpse of Christmas when it meant something., 08 Oct 2003
You know, do you ever feel at Christmas times, that you are deeply unhappy with how things are, and you long for a nostalgic glimpse at when Christmas meant something to people?
Please buy this record - it has got me through the last three Christmasses, and I can foresee my reliance on it continuing for the next ten (until appocalypse).
It'll make you sad, though...

It's Christmas time..., 11 Dec 2002
I first heard Just Like Christmas on Marc&Lard's Radio 1 show in the late 1990's- this lead me to this divine e.p. (and albums like Secret Name, which features such mindblowing songs as Two Step & Immune). This is the album to play after Phil Spector's collection, Jesus Christ by Big Star, Last Dance by The Cure & Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley (feel I've forgotten an American Music Club song...)- a reminder that Xmas can be a heartbreaking time: how it never measures up to the memory of those that have passed, how it is set in the darkest winter, how the seasonal affects, how people come together over the barcode rather than out of common decency,how archaic notions such as faith appear somewhat absurd in a world where people are going to be turned to mincemeat in the New Year over oil , how many people commit suicide etc (god, I'm sounding like Ingmar Bergman after listening to the Joy Division boxset). Well, this is the ideal music for all that (and more...)

Low compose half this release- the gorgeous Just Like Christmas (Sunday Morning meets the Carpenters in heaven); Long Way Around the Sea (as sparse as Starfire); Alan stays on vocals for If You Were Born Today with its heartfelt "Joy to the world" & the final track One Special Gift (a sense of foreboding when this one ends). The remaining songs are well known Xmas songs- the version of Little Drummer Boy recalls My Bloody Valentine's Glider, while the cover of Elvis's Blue Christmas is as great as Cowboy Junkies Blue Moon Revisted (on the classic Trinity Sessions album). Silent Night recalls the sparse acoustics of Nick Drake and Robert Wyatt, Mimi & Alan's voices coming together (recall The Smiths's Asleep- an ode to suicide ends with this tune also). The final track is Taking Down the Tree, which evokes the happysad emotions of Xmas and the sense that the seasons move on regardless: "seems before it's over it's begun".

Low's Christmas is an album that HAS to be owned at this price and one of those releases you will be guaranteed to come back to at least once a year. Divine stuff...

Scots avant-rockers Mogwai may never quite shake their reputation as determined sonic brutalists, but a spin of Happy Songs for Happy People demonstrates that they're no longer simply set on rendering the aural equivalent of being sucked out a spaceship airlock. Although always a democracy, previously, Stuart Braithwaite had taken on the role of Mogwai's bandleader-by-proxy, his tumultuous guitar roar the outfit's most obvious hallmark. Now, however, multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns appears to fulfil this role--albeit, with much more restraint--crooning effect-heavy vocals somewhere from the wispy heart of "Hunted By a Freak", teasing out a meditative piano line on the ghostly "I Know You Are But What Am I?". Indeed, more than any other Mogwai work, sheer bliss appears to be this album's singular aim: even the amp-busting crescendo of "Ratts of the Capital" matches its dark metal pomp with chiming orchestra bells and starburst lead-guitar lines. No sudden banjo interludes or no guest vocals jar with the album's slow passage towards its conclusion--and it's a fact that plants the fear that maybe Mogwai are all played out. True, it's hard to shake the feeling that they'll never again write something as monumental as Come On Die Young. But even revolving in their ever-tightening spiral, Mogwai sound lush and powerful. Their time is not yet past. --Louis Pattison

Like a beautiful trance, 18 Jul 2008
It's hard to really put the experience of listening to this album into words. It is just a relentlessly gorgeous soundscape, even by Sigur Ros' own high standards.

Of all their albums, this is the most seamless. As many listeners have commented, the songs seem to blend into each other, as if they are different movements of one work, and the album as a whole simply encapsulates me.

That is not to say that the mood is a constant throughout. Rather, the melancholy of Track 1 gives way to the gentle and beautiful optimism of Track 3, whilst the mood of Track 4 drifts between the two, in a wonderfully passive, relaxed way. The second half of the album, in contrast, is considerably darker, whilst maintaining the beauty of the first half. It is the darker songs which mark ( ) from Agaetis Byrjun and Takk. Due to this, the album comes across (at least to this listener) as the purest, most emotional, most revealing album by Sigur Ros, and possibly of any band I have heard.

This is a quite exceptional album.



the sound of snowblind angels flying into the sun..., 20 Nov 2007
to appreciate this album, you must listen to it from start to finish, it is utterly sublime.

( ... ), 26 Oct 2007
First of all, don't be scared that it will be depressing. It's dark, emotional and immensely powerful, is what it is. This isn't an album to share headphones for at the bus stop, or put on shuffle on your MP3 player with any other tracks. Possibly the only way to do it is listen to the whole thing, in order, in bed in the middle of the night when no one else can hear you. Or maybe on a plane. Or sitting up a tree in a forest after a long bike ride, where birdsong can add to it. They say you're meant to write your own lyrics on the ethereal pages of the booklet (be careful taking this out - it's fragile), and maybe I will one day, but at the moment I'd rather just do so in my head. Everyone on Earth should listen to this album at least once, and then they might just relax even for an hour and a bit. Track 8 is possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The only problem I can find is that of how to recommend it to your friends - I mean, how do you say it?

strange beauty, 28 Sep 2007
Writing reviews is not something I normally do, but since this album is in my opinion a masterpiece in very many ways, I feel compelled. It is one of few in my collection of thousands that really stands out above the rest.

If like me, you think music has the power to evoke places, mood and atmosphere, then you simply must buy this.

I have never come across any music from any other genre that can make you both depressed and elated - at the same time. Its power is awesome. It is utterly hypnotic. These guys from Iceland take you to strange, compelling places you've never been to before - but like flames to moths, you will surely be drawn to those bright, yet dangerously beautiful places again and again.

Be warned though - flying too close can be hazardous...

Powerful and Evocative..., 02 Mar 2007
...is two adjectives that come mind for this record. This was my first exposition to Sigur Rós. And on first listen, I was rather bemused. No really I was, the first time I listened, I am not sure I knew what to think, It didn't really make any sense, to the point where it stayed in dark deep bottoms of my CD cupboard until a few months later. Indeed I thought I had made terrible mistake, buying it, after all what attracted me that strange afternoon in HMV, was the beautiful packaging. And Indeed it is beautifully packaged, a crystal white slip case, with paranthesis cut out, covers the jewel case, which itself has just contains blank book of black and white artwork on what I can only describe is soft parchment. You could say it is represenation of what is to come, once you slip it into your cd player. The sparse emptiness of the packaging is certainly a visual metaphor, for the dark empy heavy drones that precede on the album.

Having put the CD on few months later, I finally began to appreciate these were more than ramdom drones, but evocative emotions that transcended language barriers. The album is divided into two parts seperated by a 30 second silence after track 4. It begins with "untitled 1" or "vaka" as known as its known by its working title, which starts off with a desolate piano intro. A feeling of disconnection and emptiness is what drives the both halves of the album, sparse drum beats float, while Birgissons "hopelandic" falsetto coo's lonely in a gaseous depth strings and other instruements. The second half is rather more aggressive, and definetley more heavy, with the guitars coming through more clearly particularly as the band descend into "untitled 8" (Popplagið"), which has the most unhinged and what I can only describe as the most narcotic drumming climax I have ever heard. Overall this album is definately a slow burner, and is not for the unadventurous, its not an easy album to like and probablly won't win over many new Sigur Rós fans, but it is in my view the most powerful and evocative of those in Sigur Rós' discography so far.

Highlights...
Its hard to really point out highlights in this album, as it is really concise and so well balanced, "untitled 4" and "untitled 8", definitely stand out, but otherwise this album is made to be, and is best heard so, all the way through.

Not sure if I completely get this music?!, 25 Aug 2008
I must admit that I don't know if I completely understand this music (yet?). It's kind of like new age Pink Floyd with an Icelandic twist. The reason I say that is because it has such a broad expanse of sound which I do like. I must admit the middle of the album is really worth buying it for - there is such a lot going on it's awesome. However on the down side I feel that some of the tracks are a bit long and seem to have these very strange endings where a load of odd unrelated sounds seem to be tagged on as an after thought. Apart from that it has really grown on me and I think if you like something a bit out of the norm then this may well be for you.

Genius, 15 Jul 2008
Id never heard of this 4 piece band until recently and have since purchased 3 of there albums its so unique

Human music beamed in from a distant galaxy, 04 Jun 2008
Hearing Sigur Ros for the first time , as most of us did when hearing Agaetis byrjun, is akin, i imagine , to not just hearing music beamed down from another planet but hearing music beamed across from the far side of a far distant galaxy. The sort of thing Star Trek "Voyager" might have heard on their sojourn through the delta quadrant.( the cover , featuring a ballpoint pen drawing by a friend of the band further ratifies the music's alien ambience) The nearest comparison, and i realise that i am being far from being original here, are The Cocteau Twins , though even their celestial otherworldliness does,nt really compare to the Icelandic quartet.
Agaetis byrjun (Icelandic for An alright start) was originally released in June 1999 and is actually the bands second album , though i was under the misconception for some considerable time that it was their debut. With reference to the Cocteau Twins comparison their actual debut "Von Brigoi" is actually more like them mixed in with ambient drifts not unlike certain Eno or Seefeel. This album though is virtually unique. The astonishing falsetto vocals of Jon Birgisson soar over his cello bowed guitars and the diffuse keyboards of Kjsrtan Sveinsson . Abyss plunging bass lines keep the whole anchored somewhere adjacent to terra firma.
Further enhancing the music's obtuse quality's are degrees of self-reference. The first track "Intro" is,nt listed on the packaging and while most of the songs are sung in Icelandic ( though , even in English they would be indecipherable i feel) "Olsen Olsen" is sung in the gibberish language Vonlenska- which the band used for the entire follow up album ( ). The band also pull off sly technical tricks like making the strings in "Staralfur" palindromic or the fact that "Avalon" is in fact the aforementioned tracked played at a quarter of it,s speed.
Putting all this clever muso mumbo jumbo to one side though the real glory of Sigur Ros is the breathtaking emotional clout of the songs. "Svefn-g- englar" ( It translates as sleepwalkers) is consummately spine tingling -the sort of track i never ever tire of hearing . "Staraflur" has lump in the throat panoramic strings while on "Flugufrelsarinn" ( The Fly Freer) they are more sombre and elegiac like a Morricone soundtrack.
Agaetis byrjun remains Sigur Ros,s finest achievement, certainly better than the sombre ( ) and while "Takk" was a return to form it never matches the grace and insidious alien textures of this album. Whatever planet, galaxy , cosmos Agaetis byrnum is beamed from it remains a vital thrilling human experience.



ethereal and dreamy... , 07 May 2008
After debut album Von appeared domestically, this one was expected to be Sigur Ros' global take over and yes... it was; definitely a perfectly crafted piece, it placed the boys as best current artsy band. Close your eyes and loose yourself over it... pictures of Iceland will come to your head, sometimes as sweet as a lullaby (Svefn-g-englar), sometimes playfully explosive (Olsen-Olsen); a soundtrack for heaven?... I hope so, it would be great to ascend heavens with a score like this... If you are to start with Sigur Ros, get this one first and share it with as much people as possible, you will never regret and you will put some light into the darkness.

Best place to start, 14 Jan 2008
I cannot add any further to what the previous 70 odd reviewers have already said, but being a big fan of Sigur Ros for some years I can advise anyone wishing to purchase this bands music for the first time that this album is the finest place to start. Previous and Subsequent albums are still full of their high quality individual material, but just lack in the variety of content of Agaetis Byrjun.

For Christmas Past Present and Future, 24 Dec 2007
Christmas again - what better time to review Low's superb festive album which portrays a more common Christmas experience for many than the forced jollity of your Slade or Wizzard mega-hit.

This eight-track CD is a beauty. Four original Low songs show great variety - from the pure pop of `Just Like Christmas' with its sleigh bells ringing to the hauntingly spiritual telling of the Nativity in `Long Way Around the Sea'.

The cover versions of old (roast) chestnuts are simply inspired. `Silent Night' has wonderfully simple acoustic arrangement whilst `Little Drummer Boy' has never sounded like this before. It is drenched in guitar reverb and feedback a la My Bloody Valentine but is incredibly moving.

`Christmas' obviously has special resonance at this time of year but the CD can be enjoyed as much in July as December. It is by turns melancholy, thoughtful, reflective and beautiful. Can you ask for more for Christmas?


Too beautiful to stay awake too, 15 Nov 2006
Even my mum was bowled over by the beauty of the tracks on this albumn - it has been the back drop to some of the most wonderful Christmas days we have ever had. If you ever wanted 'something more' out of Christmas, then put this on once you're full up of turkey and pudding.

Just Like Christmas - All year round, 24 Sep 2004
Oh, the pain of christmas - you can't help thinking that the music perenially droning in the shops and incessantly on Radio and TV helps to explain why Christmas is the season of the year with the highest rate of suicide.

Low's 'Christmas', on the other hand, like Spector's 'Christmas Album' is music to warm your soul instead - an absurdly cheap mini-CD which is one of Low's most pure, self-contained and poignant efforts. Their original compositions here are all full of such emptional depth and a haunting, childlike innocence and honesty - no other band on this planet could produce a jaunty, sleigh-bell driven singalong like 'Just Like Christmas' without being laughed off the face of the earth.

The traditionals are just beautiful: 'Little Drummer Boy', with it's slowed down wall of distorted guitar and thumping drum set against perfectly levelled vocals is an absolute gem and 'Silent Night'- a simple vocal (Alan and Mimi in total intuitive harmony) and acoustic version of this tired standard, is turned into a thing of pure majesty. Likewise, their drastic revision of "Elvis's" 'Blue Christmas' retains the spirit (not the schmaltz)of the original, but takes on a whole other dimension with the minimalistic instrumentation and Mimi's almost sultry vocals. There's more - but you should really hear it yourself.

To be fair, most of Low's CDs leave their listeners only partially won over (some tracks appeal instantly, whilst others just don't resonate with people) but for me, 'Christmas' captures the essence and spirit (and I guess, spirituality) of Low at their absolute best on every single track here - vocal perfection, stark, austere instrumentation, and that special sound (shared in spirit, with the likes of Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, Jesus & Mary Chain, Big Star, Joy Division, Brian Wilson and Phil Spector) that hits you in the head and the heart. Put it this way: any Christmas LP that you want to play (and which still sounds good) in August is got to be worth having. And I've had this for a few years now too...

A glimpse of Christmas when it meant something., 08 Oct 2003
You know, do you ever feel at Christmas times, that you are deeply unhappy with how things are, and you long for a nostalgic glimpse at when Christmas meant something to people?
Please buy this record - it has got me through the last three Christmasses, and I can foresee my reliance on it continuing for the next ten (until appocalypse).
It'll make you sad, though...

It's Christmas time..., 11 Dec 2002
I first heard Just Like Christmas on Marc&Lard's Radio 1 show in the late 1990's- this lead me to this divine e.p. (and albums like Secret Name, which features such mindblowing songs as Two Step & Immune). This is the album to play after Phil Spector's collection, Jesus Christ by Big Star, Last Dance by The Cure & Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley (feel I've forgotten an American Music Club song...)- a reminder that Xmas can be a heartbreaking time: how it never measures up to the memory of those that have passed, how it is set in the darkest winter, how the seasonal affects, how people come together over the barcode rather than out of common decency,how archaic notions such as faith appear somewhat absurd in a world where people are going to be turned to mincemeat in the New Year over oil , how many people commit suicide etc (god, I'm sounding like Ingmar Bergman after listening to the Joy Division boxset). Well, this is the ideal music for all that (and more...)

Low compose half this release- the gorgeous Just Like Christmas (Sunday Morning meets the Carpenters in heaven); Long Way Around the Sea (as sparse as Starfire); Alan stays on vocals for If You Were Born Today with its heartfelt "Joy to the world" & the final track One Special Gift (a sense of foreboding when this one ends). The remaining songs are well known Xmas songs- the version of Little Drummer Boy recalls My Bloody Valentine's Glider, while the cover of Elvis's Blue Christmas is as great as Cowboy Junkies Blue Moon Revisted (on the classic Trinity Sessions album). Silent Night recalls the sparse acoustics of Nick Drake and Robert Wyatt, Mimi & Alan's voices coming together (recall The Smiths's Asleep- an ode to suicide ends with this tune also). The final track is Taking Down the Tree, which evokes the happysad emotions of Xmas and the sense that the seasons move on regardless: "seems before it's over it's begun".

Low's Christmas is an album that HAS to be owned at this price and one of those releases you will be guaranteed to come back to at least once a year. Divine stuff...

Sheer quality, 30 Mar 2008
I've only heard a few of their tracks before, and just bought this finally last week (!!), since then I've listened to it constantly - all I can say that this is now one of the best CD I have, and I have A LOT of music of all types of genre. Buy this now.

Happy sadness, 29 Nov 2007
If you watch channel 4 you will have heard snatches of this as it is their favourite choice for between programme breaks & trailers. The 4th album from the Glasgow post rockers sees them blend their loud / quiet guitars with synths and vocoded vocals to create a fuller and slightly more commercial sound. The songs retain Mogwais trademark melancholy tone but gain more power and identity from the richness of the sound without any loss of power. Beautiful powerful, sad yet uplifting, post rock has never felt more emotional.

this is fine stuff , 05 Sep 2007
happy songs for happy people is the fourth album bu scottish post rock icons mogwai (named after the breed of little monsters in gremlins).This album is different than their others because it is more laid back in terms of its aggression,in fact there is little of such the act indeed.This is an album of grace and subtle tones,the guitar is used but as an aid to the violins,viola,organ,piano,cello and even bells.
Mogwai are to all extents and purposes an instrumentalist act but three tracks here include vocals nevertheless,two of which are done on vocoder,which gives the sound a very electronic edge to it.
The album is 41 minutes of beautiful music and being patient with this album may be needed,repeated listens bring the songs more glory and there is some very stirring stuff here,never over pretentious to be truthful like alot of bands in the same style,mogwai create atmosphere and emotion,good stuff if the truth be set free.


More Rock Action, 31 May 2007
In a way this album exemplifies the musician's perennial problems of trying to square the circle by coming up with something different whilst staying the same. From the opening notes this is clearly identifiable as being Mogwai and as it progresses can be heard to equal the quality of its predecessors. The individuality of their musical identity creates unenviable inbuilt difficulties: if a piece resembles an earlier recording, the band is laid open to charges of stagnation, of simply having further stabs at basically recording the same album in a new guise; if it differs too much, they risk being accused of losing their identity, or even of selling out and becoming too commercial.

Perhaps tellingly, the two songs that featured in the top ten of the 2003 John Peel Festive Fifty, the only two to be placed, were Hunted By A Freak and the eight-minute epic Ratts Of The Capital, as these side-openers contain the most recognisably Mogwai trademark qualities: the sinister, slow building of the soundscape, the quiet/loud/quiet passages, the tortured guitar. However, elsewhere on the record there are several subtle indications that Mogwai have plenty left to say, musically speaking, and there is more of a democratic band feel than in some of their earlier guitar-led pieces. Four of the tracks are augmented by cello or violin, and a string quartet is employed to atmospheric effect on Killing All The Flies.

As always, the titles remain enigmatic and willfully ungrammatical (Boring Machines Disturbs Sleep; Moses? I Amn't), and in a mark of the new maturity and restraint shown throughout this extremely listenable record, most of the pieces are only three or four minutes long. This is not a record that gives away all its secrets on the first listen, but rewards repeated plays. This is in no small part due to the skilful engineering led by Tony Doogan at the CaVa studios in Glasgow, but also to the collaborative efforts and musical empathy of the band themselves.

i don't care how 'underground' they used to be. stop over-rating this album!, 30 Apr 2006
This is my only Mogwai album.I bought it having heard the single 'Hunted By a Freak',- undeniably a beautiful tune. However, i soon grew tired of this album. It sounds like the soundtrack to every car ad and documentary you've seen in the last decade. The repetition within the songs is boring. The repetition of the same simple formula throughout the album (start simple, add instruments playing slight variations on the original part, CRESCENDO, fin) is boring. I could have written this album myself over one weekend,- and so could you, if you could afford the amount of electronic gimmickry upon which these lads so clearly rely. If the millenium bug had existed Mogwai would not. I loved 'Happy Songs For Happy People' for the first week or so. I'm still gonna give 'Come on die young' a go though.

Scottish noise terrorists Mogwai were weaned on a diet of intense, experimental American rock. Accordingly, Come On Die Young has the darkest heart; thankfully, though, it's by no means an unlistenable prospect. The opening track, "Punk Rock", samples a bootlegged interview with Iggy Pop, in which the man claims "I don't know Johnny Rotten. But I'm sure he puts as much blood, and sweat into what he does as Sigmund Freud did." And that's the great thing about Mogwai: they care too much. Taking their cue from the instrumental menace of groups like Labradford and Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Mogwai construct a dark, panoramic noise. "Helps Both Ways" and "Ex-Cowboy" are distillations of melancholia, but "Christmas Steps" is the album's blazing peak--a precise tidal wave of destruction that brings a truly landmark album to a close. --Louis Pattison

Like a beautiful trance, 18 Jul 2008
It's hard to really put the experience of listening to this album into words. It is just a relentlessly gorgeous soundscape, even by Sigur Ros' own high standards.

Of all their albums, this is the most seamless. As many listeners have commented, the songs seem to blend into each other, as if they are different movements of one work, and the album as a whole simply encapsulates me.

That is not to say that the mood is a constant throughout. Rather, the melancholy of Track 1 gives way to the gentle and beautiful optimism of Track 3, whilst the mood of Track 4 drifts between the two, in a wonderfully passive, relaxed way. The second half of the album, in contrast, is considerably darker, whilst maintaining the beauty of the first half. It is the darker songs which mark ( ) from Agaetis Byrjun and Takk. Due to this, the album comes across (at least to this listener) as the purest, most emotional, most revealing album by Sigur Ros, and possibly of any band I have heard.

This is a quite exceptional album.



the sound of snowblind angels flying into the sun..., 20 Nov 2007
to appreciate this album, you must listen to it from start to finish, it is utterly sublime.

( ... ), 26 Oct 2007
First of all, don't be scared that it will be depressing. It's dark, emotional and immensely powerful, is what it is. This isn't an album to share headphones for at the bus stop, or put on shuffle on your MP3 player with any other tracks. Possibly the only way to do it is listen to the whole thing, in order, in bed in the middle of the night when no one else can hear you. Or maybe on a plane. Or sitting up a tree in a forest after a long bike ride, where birdsong can add to it. They say you're meant to write your own lyrics on the ethereal pages of the booklet (be careful taking this out - it's fragile), and maybe I will one day, but at the moment I'd rather just do so in my head. Everyone on Earth should listen to this album at least once, and then they might just relax even for an hour and a bit. Track 8 is possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The only problem I can find is that of how to recommend it to your friends - I mean, how do you say it?

strange beauty, 28 Sep 2007
Writing reviews is not something I normally do, but since this album is in my opinion a masterpiece in very many ways, I feel compelled. It is one of few in my collection of thousands that really stands out above the rest.

If like me, you think music has the power to evoke places, mood and atmosphere, then you simply must buy this.

I have never come across any music from any other genre that can make you both depressed and elated - at the same time. Its power is awesome. It is utterly hypnotic. These guys from Iceland take you to strange, compelling places you've never been to before - but like flames to moths, you will surely be drawn to those bright, yet dangerously beautiful places again and again.

Be warned though - flying too close can be hazardous...

Powerful and Evocative..., 02 Mar 2007
...is two adjectives that come mind for this record. This was my first exposition to Sigur Rós. And on first listen, I was rather bemused. No really I was, the first time I listened, I am not sure I knew what to think, It didn't really make any sense, to the point where it stayed in dark deep bottoms of my CD cupboard until a few months later. Indeed I thought I had made terrible mistake, buying it, after all what attracted me that strange afternoon in HMV, was the beautiful packaging. And Indeed it is beautifully packaged, a crystal white slip case, with paranthesis cut out, covers the jewel case, which itself has just contains blank book of black and white artwork on what I can only describe is soft parchment. You could say it is represenation of what is to come, once you slip it into your cd player. The sparse emptiness of the packaging is certainly a visual metaphor, for the dark empy heavy drones that precede on the album.

Having put the CD on few months later, I finally began to appreciate these were more than ramdom drones, but evocative emotions that transcended language barriers. The album is divided into two parts seperated by a 30 second silence after track 4. It begins with "untitled 1" or "vaka" as known as its known by its working title, which starts off with a desolate piano intro. A feeling of disconnection and emptiness is what drives the both halves of the album, sparse drum beats float, while Birgissons "hopelandic" falsetto coo's lonely in a gaseous depth strings and other instruements. The second half is rather more aggressive, and definetley more heavy, with the guitars coming through more clearly particularly as the band descend into "untitled 8" (Popplagið"), which has the most unhinged and what I can only describe as the most narcotic drumming climax I have ever heard. Overall this album is definately a slow burner, and is not for the unadventurous, its not an easy album to like and probablly won't win over many new Sigur Rós fans, but it is in my view the most powerful and evocative of those in Sigur Rós' discography so far.

Highlights...
Its hard to really point out highlights in this album, as it is really concise and so well balanced, "untitled 4" and "untitled 8", definitely stand out, but otherwise this album is made to be, and is best heard so, all the way through.

Not sure if I completely get this music?!, 25 Aug 2008
I must admit that I don't know if I completely understand this music (yet?). It's kind of like new age Pink Floyd with an Icelandic twist. The reason I say that is because it has such a broad expanse of sound which I do like. I must admit the middle of the album is really worth buying it for - there is such a lot going on it's awesome. However on the down side I feel that some of the tracks are a bit long and seem to have these very strange endings where a load of odd unrelated sounds seem to be tagged on as an after thought. Apart from that it has really grown on me and I think if you like something a bit out of the norm then this may well be for you.

Genius, 15 Jul 2008
Id never heard of this 4 piece band until recently and have since purchased 3 of there albums its so unique

Human music beamed in from a distant galaxy, 04 Jun 2008
Hearing Sigur Ros for the first time , as most of us did when hearing Agaetis byrjun, is akin, i imagine , to not just hearing music beamed down from another planet but hearing music beamed across from the far side of a far distant galaxy. The sort of thing Star Trek "Voyager" might have heard on their sojourn through the delta quadrant.( the cover , featuring a ballpoint pen drawing by a friend of the band further ratifies the music's alien ambience) The nearest comparison, and i realise that i am being far from being original here, are The Cocteau Twins , though even their celestial otherworldliness does,nt really compare to the Icelandic quartet.
Agaetis byrjun (Icelandic for An alright start) was originally released in June 1999 and is actually the bands second album , though i was under the misconception for some considerable time that it was their debut. With reference to the Cocteau Twins comparison their actual debut "Von Brigoi" is actually more like them mixed in with ambient drifts not unlike certain Eno or Seefeel. This album though is virtually unique. The astonishing falsetto vocals of Jon Birgisson soar over his cello bowed guitars and the diffuse keyboards of Kjsrtan Sveinsson . Abyss plunging bass lines keep the whole anchored somewhere adjacent to terra firma.
Further enhancing the music's obtuse quality's are degrees of self-reference. The first track "Intro" is,nt listed on the packaging and while most of the songs are sung in Icelandic ( though , even in English they would be indecipherable i feel) "Olsen Olsen" is sung in the gibberish language Vonlenska- which the band used for the entire follow up album ( ). The band also pull off sly technical tricks like making the strings in "Staralfur" palindromic or the fact that "Avalon" is in fact the aforementioned tracked played at a quarter of it,s speed.
Putting all this clever muso mumbo jumbo to one side though the real glory of Sigur Ros is the breathtaking emotional clout of the songs. "Svefn-g- englar" ( It translates as sleepwalkers) is consummately spine tingling -the sort of track i never ever tire of hearing . "Staraflur" has lump in the throat panoramic strings while on "Flugufrelsarinn" ( The Fly Freer) they are more sombre and elegiac like a Morricone soundtrack.
Agaetis byrjun remains Sigur Ros,s finest achievement, certainly better than the sombre ( ) and while "Takk" was a return to form it never matches the grace and insidious alien textures of this album. Whatever planet, galaxy , cosmos Agaetis byrnum is beamed from it remains a vital thrilling human experience.



ethereal and dreamy... , 07 May 2008
After debut album Von appeared domestically, this one was expected to be Sigur Ros' global take over and yes... it was; definitely a perfectly crafted piece, it placed the boys as best current artsy band. Close your eyes and loose yourself over it... pictures of Iceland will come to your head, sometimes as sweet as a lullaby (Svefn-g-englar), sometimes playfully explosive (Olsen-Olsen); a soundtrack for heaven?... I hope so, it would be great to ascend heavens with a score like this... If you are to start with Sigur Ros, get this one first and share it with as much people as possible, you will never regret and you will put some light into the darkness.

Best place to start, 14 Jan 2008
I cannot add any further to what the previous 70 odd reviewers have already said, but being a big fan of Sigur Ros for some years I can advise anyone wishing to purchase this bands music for the first time that this album is the finest place to start. Previous and Subsequent albums are still full of their high quality individual material, but just lack in the variety of content of Agaetis Byrjun.

For Christmas Past Present and Future, 24 Dec 2007
Christmas again - what better time to review Low's superb festive album which portrays a more common Christmas experience for many than the forced jollity of your Slade or Wizzard mega-hit.

This eight-track CD is a beauty. Four original Low songs show great variety - from the pure pop of `Just Like Christmas' with its sleigh bells ringing to the hauntingly spiritual telling of the Nativity in `Long Way Around the Sea'.

The cover versions of old (roast) chestnuts are simply inspired. `Silent Night' has wonderfully simple acoustic arrangement whilst `Little Drummer Boy' has never sounded like this before. It is drenched in guitar reverb and feedback a la My Bloody Valentine but is incredibly moving.

`Christmas' obviously has special resonance at this time of year but the CD can be enjoyed as much in July as December. It is by turns melancholy, thoughtful, reflective and beautiful. Can you ask for more for Christmas?


Too beautiful to stay awake too, 15 Nov 2006
Even my mum was bowled over by the beauty of the tracks on this albumn - it has been the back drop to some of the most wonderful Christmas days we have ever had. If you ever wanted 'something more' out of Christmas, then put this on once you're full up of turkey and pudding.

Just Like Christmas - All year round, 24 Sep 2004
Oh, the pain of christmas - you can't help thinking that the music perenially droning in the shops and incessantly on Radio and TV helps to explain why Christmas is the season of the year with the highest rate of suicide.

Low's 'Christmas', on the other hand, like Spector's 'Christmas Album' is music to warm your soul instead - an absurdly cheap mini-CD which is one of Low's most pure, self-contained and poignant efforts. Their original compositions here are all full of such emptional depth and a haunting, childlike innocence and honesty - no other band on this planet could produce a jaunty, sleigh-bell driven singalong like 'Just Like Christmas' without being laughed off the face of the earth.

The traditionals are just beautiful: 'Little Drummer Boy', with it's slowed down wall of distorted guitar and thumping drum set against perfectly levelled vocals is an absolute gem and 'Silent Night'- a simple vocal (Alan and Mimi in total intuitive harmony) and acoustic version of this tired standard, is turned into a thing of pure majesty. Likewise, their drastic revision of "Elvis's" 'Blue Christmas' retains the spirit (not the schmaltz)of the original, but takes on a whole other dimension with the minimalistic instrumentation and Mimi's almost sultry vocals. There's more - but you should really hear it yourself.

To be fair, most of Low's CDs leave their listeners only partially won over (some tracks appeal instantly, whilst others just don't resonate with people) but for me, 'Christmas' captures the essence and spirit (and I guess, spirituality) of Low at their absolute best on every single track here - vocal perfection, stark, austere instrumentation, and that special sound (shared in spirit, with the likes of Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, Jesus & Mary Chain, Big Star, Joy Division, Brian Wilson and Phil Spector) that hits you in the head and the heart. Put it this way: any Christmas LP that you want to play (and which still sounds good) in August is got to be worth having. And I've had this for a few years now too...

A glimpse of Christmas when it meant something., 08 Oct 2003
You know, do you ever feel at Christmas times, that you are deeply unhappy with how things are, and you long for a nostalgic glimpse at when Christmas meant something to people?
Please buy this record - it has got me through the last three Christmasses, and I can foresee my reliance on it continuing for the next ten (until appocalypse).
It'll make you sad, though...

It's Christmas time..., 11 Dec 2002
I first heard Just Like Christmas on Marc&Lard's Radio 1 show in the late 1990's- this lead me to this divine e.p. (and albums like Secret Name, which features such mindblowing songs as Two Step & Immune). This is the album to play after Phil Spector's collection, Jesus Christ by Big Star, Last Dance by The Cure & Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley (feel I've forgotten an American Music Club song...)- a reminder that Xmas can be a heartbreaking time: how it never measures up to the memory of those that have passed, how it is set in the darkest winter, how the seasonal affects, how people come together over the barcode rather than out of common decency,how archaic notions such as faith appear somewhat absurd in a world where people are going to be turned to mincemeat in the New Year over oil , how many people commit suicide etc (god, I'm sounding like Ingmar Bergman after listening to the Joy Division boxset). Well, this is the ideal music for all that (and more...)

Low compose half this release- the gorgeous Just Like Christmas (Sunday Morning meets the Carpenters in heaven); Long Way Around the Sea (as sparse as Starfire); Alan stays on vocals for If You Were Born Today with its heartfelt "Joy to the world" & the final track One Special Gift (a sense of foreboding when this one ends). The remaining songs are well known Xmas songs- the version of Little Drummer Boy recalls My Bloody Valentine's Glider, while the cover of Elvis's Blue Christmas is as great as Cowboy Junkies Blue Moon Revisted (on the classic Trinity Sessions album). Silent Night recalls the sparse acoustics of Nick Drake and Robert Wyatt, Mimi & Alan's voices coming together (recall The Smiths's Asleep- an ode to suicide ends with this tune also). The final track is Taking Down the Tree, which evokes the happysad emotions of Xmas and the sense that the seasons move on regardless: "seems before it's over it's begun".

Low's Christmas is an album that HAS to be owned at this price and one of those releases you will be guaranteed to come back to at least once a year. Divine stuff...

Sheer quality, 30 Mar 2008
I've only heard a few of their tracks before, and just bought this finally last week (!!), since then I've listened to it constantly - all I can say that this is now one of the best CD I have, and I have A LOT of music of all types of genre. Buy this now.

Happy sadness, 29 Nov 2007
If you watch channel 4 you will have heard snatches of this as it is their favourite choice for between programme breaks & trailers. The 4th album from the Glasgow post rockers sees them blend their loud / quiet guitars with synths and vocoded vocals to create a fuller and slightly more commercial sound. The songs retain Mogwais trademark melancholy tone but gain more power and identity from the richness of the sound without any loss of power. Beautiful powerful, sad yet uplifting, post rock has never felt more emotional.

this is fine stuff , 05 Sep 2007
happy songs for happy people is the fourth album bu scottish post rock icons mogwai (named after the breed of little monsters in gremlins).This album is different than their others because it is more laid back in terms of its aggression,in fact there is little of such the act indeed.This is an album of grace and subtle tones,the guitar is used but as an aid to the violins,viola,organ,piano,cello and even bells.
Mogwai are to all extents and purposes an instrumentalist act but three tracks here include vocals nevertheless,two of which are done on vocoder,which gives the sound a very electronic edge to it.
The album is 41 minutes of beautiful music and being patient with this album may be needed,repeated listens bring the songs more glory and there is some very stirring stuff here,never over pretentious to be truthful like alot of bands in the same style,mogwai create atmosphere and emotion,good stuff if the truth be set free.


More Rock Action, 31 May 2007
In a way this album exemplifies the musician's perennial problems of trying to square the circle by coming up with something different whilst staying the same. From the opening notes this is clearly identifiable as being Mogwai and as it progresses can be heard to equal the quality of its predecessors. The individuality of their musical identity creates unenviable inbuilt difficulties: if a piece resembles an earlier recording, the band is laid open to charges of stagnation, of simply having further stabs at basically recording the same album in a new guise; if it differs too much, they risk being accused of losing their identity, or even of selling out and becoming too commercial.

Perhaps tellingly, the two songs that featured in the top ten of the 2003 John Peel Festive Fifty, the only two to be placed, were Hunted By A Freak and the eight-minute epic Ratts Of The Capital, as these side-openers contain the most recognisably Mogwai trademark qualities: the sinister, slow building of the soundscape, the quiet/loud/quiet passages, the tortured guitar. However, elsewhere on the record there are several subtle indications that Mogwai have plenty left to say, musically speaking, and there is more of a democratic band feel than in some of their earlier guitar-led pieces. Four of the tracks are augmented by cello or violin, and a string quartet is employed to atmospheric effect on Killing All The Flies.

As always, the titles remain enigmatic and willfully ungrammatical (Boring Machines Disturbs Sleep; Moses? I Amn't), and in a mark of the new maturity and restraint shown throughout this extremely listenable record, most of the pieces are only three or four minutes long. This is not a record that gives away all its secrets on the first listen, but rewards repeated plays. This is in no small part due to the skilful engineering led by Tony Doogan at the CaVa studios in Glasgow, but also to the collaborative efforts and musical empathy of the band themselves.

i don't care how 'underground' they used to be. stop over-rating this album!, 30 Apr 2006
This is my only Mogwai album.I bought it having heard the single 'Hunted By a Freak',- undeniably a beautiful tune. However, i soon grew tired of this album. It sounds like the soundtrack to every car ad and documentary you've seen in the last decade. The repetition within the songs is boring. The repetition of the same simple formula throughout the album (start simple, add instruments playing slight variations on the original part, CRESCENDO, fin) is boring. I could have written this album myself over one weekend,- and so could you, if you could afford the amount of electronic gimmickry upon which these lads so clearly rely. If the millenium bug had existed Mogwai would not. I loved 'Happy Songs For Happy People' for the first week or so. I'm still gonna give 'Come on die young' a go though.


A Little Bit Special, 16 Aug 2008
I saw Mogwai a couple of years back and I don't think they played anything off this album, which might suggest it isn't much cop. A couple of listens reveals the reason however: this is not a bunch of singles in the same way as Mr Beast or Happy Songs, this is a body of work that needs to be listened to as a whole to truly appreciate it. The mood is a mix of the melancholy and the sinister but it works surprisingly well. I find it is one of those album that withstands repeated listening - there is always something new to latch onto and there isn't a single minute of filler in the entire 70+ minutes. I wish I could same the same for some of their other albums because when they are on form, they produce some stunning moments of beauty. An album the is most definitely in my top 3 (with Endtroducing and Surfer Rosa) and one that puts any number of limp imitators to shame. Classic miserablism.

Come On, It's Good Stuff, 17 Jan 2007
Mogwai has created a fine record in `Come On Die Young'.

The album seems to fall into two distinct parts. The first seven tracks are atmospheric pieces largely notable for their restrained instrumentation and gentle melodic threads. `Waltz for Aidan' is beguilingly beautiful and `Cody' has whispered, dream-like vocals.

After the scratchy piano of ` Oh! How the Dogs Stack Up' the band launch into three lengthy tracks which make up nearly half of the disc's total playing time. Here the feel of the music is looser and more expressive, guitars are louder and freer; classic post-rock territory perhaps.

In my opinion, the CD is most enjoyable where the band create music with strong melody and atmosphere at the same time. My favourite track is `May Nothing But Happiness...' which features a delicate percussion melody interspersed with an increasingly strident guitar motif. The effect is haunting and tremendously atmospheric. The end of the track carries a cleverly sampled repeating automated telephone message; you can almost picture an empty hotel room in the dead of night after some horrible incident

The album's weak side is its length, as at 67 minutes it struggles a bit to maintain the quality. I know from reading other reviews that I am in the minority, but `Christmas Steps' seems to be prime culprit of this. The middle part of the track is impressive with its staccato guitar and percussion, but why the tedious, barely-there intro/outro which adds nothing? The track could easily be trimmed by five minutes.

Don't be too put off, though, this is a very enjoyable CD from a band at the top of their game. Well worth buying if you appreciate cleverly crafted music.


Still Mogwai's greatest album., 26 Dec 2006
While there are great moments on every single Mogwai release (indeed,they are
one of the more reliable bands out there)for me Come On Die Young remains their
finest album.It starts with a recording of an Iggy Pop interview in which he
describes what 'Punk Rock' is,accompanied by a bed of acoustic guitars and
ends with a trumpet-led lament called,brilliantly,Punk Rock/Puff Daddy/ANTiCHRiST.
There are few other post-rock bands that manage to actually manage to convey
any emotion in instrumental passages-Godspeed You! Black Emperor being a
notable exception.This is a classic album that i heartily recommend.

very dark - just how I like it, 07 Jun 2006
Previous to this I had never heard any of Mogwai's material. I bought this simply on the basis of recommendation and comparison to the likes of other post-rock protangonists such as Godspeed You Black Emperor. It bothers me now that it took me so long to take the plunge on Mogwai, for this album is truely fantastic and everything you could want from a post-rock record. I do not know if this is Mogwai's best work or not, but I'm sure it must rank highly.

This is the kind of dark, sinister, slow paced music that I love. It builds slowly, and leaves you in anticipation of what is to come. The first listen of this record in particular is really special. Some of the tracks are played over backgrounds which include, among others, commentary on an American Football game. But don't let that put you off, somehow it works. There are few lyrics. In fact all the tracks just seem to blend in with each other seemlessly, as if they were just played out altogther naturally without any previous thought.

It is the climax to this record which clinches the five stars. Christmas Steps is possibly the greatest post-rock track I've ever heard and is absolutely epic. The whole album is epic, and deserves the attention of anyone who is familiar with the offerings of post-rock and all that the genre means. Well done Mogwai, I shall shortly be investigating the rest of your catalogue.

Defiant beauty, 11 Mar 2006
If Young Team gained an appeal through the shoegazer-style washes of ‘Tracy’, and its digital tide of effects pedals that layered the endless ’Mogwai Fear Satan’, ‘Come On Die Young’ shows the band wanting to simply plug in and play. Opener ‘Punk Rock’ features untreated clean guitars chiming in minor-key over a speech by Iggy Pop. The band’s trademark plaintive emotion, often covered below layers of feedback and delay on the previous album, is here bravely on show: ‘the brilliant music of a genius, myself’ Iggy Pop declares; you sense Mogwai would say the same themselves; if their music did not already do that for them.
‘Cody’ is a rare vocal track that sounds like a country lament from a ghost town, straight after the gold rush. Indeed, the sharply picked minor-key guitars could easily be Neil Young on Zuma: just darker. In the background a tasteful pedal-steel howls mournfully, as Stuart Braithwaite’s vocal sounds like all of Glasgow propping up the bar, and the soft, lugubrious music emphasises an overall half-drunken, half-romantic stupor.
If ‘cody’ is a bar-room howl, then ‘Helps Both Ways’ is the loner sloping home to his empty house and falling on the couch in front of the telly; almost literally, as an American football game plays in the background for the entire song. Again there is a clean guitar, but this time a nicely muted horn section plays over the top to the pace of a fugue. The song is strangely entrancing, a fine demonstration of how classical instruments are used in post-rock as not just to fill in the gaps, but to add something to the music.
‘Year 2000’ and ‘Kappa’ propound the sparse, ennui-rock further, the first with layers of metallic sounding guitars and samples, the second with a definite Slint-feel that is slightly atonal. The songs feel like a pair, but also as more an exercise in sound and unfettered production than anything else. The atmosphere of locale created by the previous tracks is in this way slightly compromised, but not totally.
‘Waltz for Aidan’ returns us to this drunken, woozy feel; and it’s sumptuous, aching melody, that finally melts into long country lanes of delay is one of the most beautiful moments on the album. The song is overdosed on wistful melancholy, and leads into the rather tenderly titled ‘may nothing but happiness come through your door’: the poignancy evident in the title is played out by a solitary guitar, that builds in volume as a clattering drum beat turns it to an impassioned shout: the rage finally collapses into a pool of soft keys, as a phone message plays pathetically in the background. At these junctures, we get this sense of a narrative running through this album, perhaps a person who has lost everything, and that this is a journey through his solipsism: the barren nature of the production enforces this brilliantly.
After the distorted piano interlude of ‘Oh! How the Dogs Stack Up’, the album enters into its tour de force: a triptych of lengthy songs - ‘Ex-Cowboy’, ‘Chocky’ and ‘Christmas Steps’ that each demonstrate Mogwai’s outreaching talent. In the first, a loose bass groove uncovers swathes of sound, from the beginning violins to towering guitars that finally rage to the surface, coating the soundscape in nightmarish entrancing squalls of feedback: the result is paralysingly beautiful, like staring over a precipice. The following number ‘chocky’ demonstrates the band’s sincerity of feeling as a plaintive piano melody unfolds alongside ascending guitars, the song drifts on like a journey through the hills, before foundering in a fog of static. ‘Christmas Steps’ is far better than it’s E.P. counterpart, sounding better with the lighter, less prominent guitars; it feels like someone picking their way through a snowbound landscape.
The closer is slightly disappointing, but this is a great album, an important album. I can’t understand why people see ‘Young Team’ as the flagship album: for me it is ‘Come On Die Young’ - the band took a brave risk with eschewing their early stomp box fascination, and this album demonstrates that they could make the most battered sounding guitar cry.

It's hard to imagine this disc coming out of Montreal or, really, any urban habitat. The post-rock instrumentals on f#a#(infinity symbol), distantly related to the sounds made by the Australian band Dirty Three, serve as walking music for a loner hoping to hitch a ride in the middle of the Arizona desert and dealing with the inevitability of another night in coyote territory. Godspeed's swelling array of guitars, bagpipes, cellos, violins, trumpets, and drums is riveted together with an understated hope that is emotionally clutching, often devastating. This core of heavy Midwestern stoicism, saturated with waves of strings, hardcore interludes, and ripples of Morricone guitar, leaves listeners with the understanding that there is no escape from the badlands that surround and permeate us. --Michael Woodring

Like a beautiful trance, 18 Jul 2008
It's hard to really put the experience of listening to this album into words. It is just a relentlessly gorgeous soundscape, even by Sigur Ros' own high standards.

Of all their albums, this is the most seamless. As many listeners have commented, the songs seem to blend into each other, as if they are different movements of one work, and the album as a whole simply encapsulates me.

That is not to say that the mood is a constant throughout. Rather, the melancholy of Track 1 gives way to the gentle and beautiful optimism of Track 3, whilst the mood of Track 4 drifts between the two, in a wonderfully passive, relaxed way. The second half of the album, in contrast, is considerably darker, whilst maintaining the beauty of the first half. It is the darker songs which mark ( ) from Agaetis Byrjun and Takk. Due to this, the album comes across (at least to this listener) as the purest, most emotional, most revealing album by Sigur Ros, and possibly of any band I have heard.

This is a quite exceptional album.



the sound of snowblind angels flying into the sun..., 20 Nov 2007
to appreciate this album, you must listen to it from start to finish, it is utterly sublime.

( ... ), 26 Oct 2007
First of all, don't be scared that it will be depressing. It's dark, emotional and immensely powerful, is what it is. This isn't an album to share headphones for at the bus stop, or put on shuffle on your MP3 player with any other tracks. Possibly the only way to do it is listen to the whole thing, in order, in bed in the middle of the night when no one else can hear you. Or maybe on a plane. Or sitting up a tree in a forest after a long bike ride, where birdsong can add to it. They say you're meant to write your own lyrics on the ethereal pages of the booklet (be careful taking this out - it's fragile), and maybe I will one day, but at the moment I'd rather just do so in my head. Everyone on Earth should listen to this album at least once, and then they might just relax even for an hour and a bit. Track 8 is possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. The only problem I can find is that of how to recommend it to your friends - I mean, how do you say it?

strange beauty, 28 Sep 2007
Writing reviews is not something I normally do, but since this album is in my opinion a masterpiece in very many ways, I feel compelled. It is one of few in my collection of thousands that really stands out above the rest.

If like me, you think music has the power to evoke places, mood and atmosphere, then you simply must buy this.

I have never come across any music from any other genre that can make you both depressed and elated - at the same time. Its power is awesome. It is utterly hypnotic. These guys from Iceland take you to strange, compelling places you've never been to before - but like flames to moths, you will surely be drawn to those bright, yet dangerously beautiful places again and again.

Be warned though - flying too close can be hazardous...

Powerful and Evocative..., 02 Mar 2007
...is two adjectives that come mind for this record. This was my first exposition to Sigur Rós. And on first listen, I was rather bemused. No really I was, the first time I listened, I am not sure I knew what to think, It didn't really make any sense, to the point where it stayed in dark deep bottoms of my CD cupboard until a few months later. Indeed I thought I had made terrible mistake, buying it, after all what attracted me that strange afternoon in HMV, was the beautiful packaging. And Indeed it is beautifully packaged, a crystal white slip case, with paranthesis cut out, covers the jewel case, which itself has just contains blank book of black and white artwork on what I can only describe is soft parchment. You could say it is represenation of what is to come, once you slip it into your cd player. The sparse emptiness of the packaging is certainly a visual metaphor, for the dark empy heavy drones that precede on the album.

Having put the CD on few months later, I finally began to appreciate these were more than ramdom drones, but evocative emotions that transcended language barriers. The album is divided into two parts seperated by a 30 second silence after track 4. It begins with "untitled 1" or "vaka" as known as its known by its working title, which starts off with a desolate piano intro. A feeling of disconnection and emptiness is what drives the both halves of the album, sparse drum beats float, while Birgissons "hopelandic" falsetto coo's lonely in a gaseous depth strings and other instruements. The second half is rather more aggressive, and definetley more heavy, with the guitars coming through more clearly particularly as the band descend into "untitled 8" (Popplagið"), which has the most unhinged and what I can only describe as the most narcotic drumming climax I have ever heard. Overall this album is definately a slow burner, and is not for the unadventurous, its not an easy album to like and probablly won't win over many new Sigur Rós fans, but it is in my view the most powerful and evocative of those in Sigur Rós' discography so far.

Highlights...
Its hard to really point out highlights in this album, as it is really concise and so well balanced, "untitled 4" and "untitled 8", definitely stand out, but otherwise this album is made to be, and is best heard so, all the way through.

Not sure if I completely get this music?!, 25 Aug 2008
I must admit that I don't know if I completely understand this music (yet?). It's kind of like new age Pink Floyd with an Icelandic twist. The reason I say that is because it has such a broad expanse of sound which I do like. I must admit the middle of the album is really worth buying it for - there is such a lot going on it's awesome. However on the down side I feel that some of the tracks are a bit long and seem to have these very strange endings where a load of odd unrelated sounds seem to be tagged on as an after thought. Apart from that it has really grown on me and I think if you like something a bit out of the norm then this may well be for you.

Genius, 15 Jul 2008
Id never heard of this 4 piece band until recently and have since purchased 3 of there albums its so unique

Human music beamed in from a distant galaxy, 04 Jun 2008
Hearing Sigur Ros for the first time , as most of us did when hearing Agaetis byrjun, is akin, i imagine , to not just hearing music beamed down from another planet but hearing music beamed across from the far side of a far distant galaxy. The sort of thing Star Trek "Voyager" might have heard on their sojourn through the delta quadrant.( the cover , featuring a ballpoint pen drawing by a friend of the band further ratifies the music's alien ambience) The nearest comparison, and i realise that i am being far from being original here, are The Cocteau Twins , though even their celestial otherworldliness does,nt really compare to the Icelandic quartet.
Agaetis byrjun (Icelandic for An alright start) was originally released in June 1999 and is actually the bands second album , though i was under the misconception for some considerable time that it was their debut. With reference to the Cocteau Twins comparison their actual debut "Von Brigoi" is actually more like them mixed in with ambient drifts not unlike certain Eno or Seefeel. This album though is virtually unique. The astonishing falsetto vocals of Jon Birgisson soar over his cello bowed guitars and the diffuse keyboards of Kjsrtan Sveinsson . Abyss plunging bass lines keep the whole anchored somewhere adjacent to terra firma.
Further enhancing the music's obtuse quality's are degrees of self-reference. The first track "Intro" is,nt listed on the packaging and while most of the songs are sung in Icelandic ( though , even in English they would be indecipherable i feel) "Olsen Olsen" is sung in the gibberish language Vonlenska- which the band used for the entire follow up album ( ). The band also pull off sly technical tricks like making the strings in "Staralfur" palindromic or the fact that "Avalon" is in fact the aforementioned tracked played at a quarter of it,s speed.
Putting all this clever muso mumbo jumbo to one side though the real glory of Sigur Ros is the breathtaking emotional clout of the songs. "Svefn-g- englar" ( It translates as sleepwalkers) is consummately spine tingling -the sort of track i never ever tire of hearing . "Staraflur" has lump in the throat panoramic strings while on "Flugufrelsarinn" ( The Fly Freer) they are more sombre and elegiac like a Morricone soundtrack.
Agaetis byrjun remains Sigur Ros,s finest achievement, certainly better than the sombre ( ) and while "Takk" was a return to form it never matches the grace and insidious alien textures of this album. Whatever planet, galaxy , cosmos Agaetis byrnum is beamed from it remains a vital