Yes, your songs are very pretty Sigur Rós, but really: does any one of your fans out there need this, a half-hearted exercise in soundtracking collecting together a number of rarities (read: cast-offs) and acoustic tracks? No, they certainly do not.
With that song of theirs still accompanying slow-moving images of everything from lionesses pouncing on passing zebras to car wrecks from helicopter cams to buildings collapsing in pixel-perfect detail, probably, there’s no doubt interest in the band remains high, even so long after their NME-stickered breakthrough, Ágætis Byrjun (or, rather, the ‘Svefn-g-englar’ single). But wheeling out these oldies doesn’t aid their critical perceptions any: doubters pointing accusing fingers muttering curse words and complaints about one-trick ponies being flogged to death will find ammo aplenty here.
Single ‘Hljómalind’ is eight years old, and while it’s simplistic by the band’s own admission, its lack of any lasting grasp is alarming for a band so well schooled in the controlling and manipulation of listener emotions. Perhaps if you whacked it over the top of satellite images of clouds moving over African plains really fast it’d have more of an impact. Or it’d just sound like another Sigur Rós song set to another montage of pretty mean-nothing nonsense.
The Icelandic quartet’s last LP proper, Takk, was a worry in itself: it failed to expand upon its predecessor, 2002’s ( ), and as a result was cold-shouldered by many a long-term follower. Immediate though it was, it was without the skin-prickling sensitivity of the two albums before it. The Hvarf half here – the rare/previously unreleased offerings – leaves a similar aftertaste: so pretty, but so what?
Heim, meaning ‘Home’, is the acoustic half of this double album. Here a selection of canon classics are given the stripped-down treatment to a resounding chorus of bothered. ‘Vaka’, or ‘Untitled 1’ to ( ) owners, sounds limp stripped of its icy amplified sheen, and Jónsi Birgisson’s vocals are alarmingly… erm… horrible. Yes, really horrible. Grating, too high in the mix, nonsensical, horrible.
Unbalanced and ill-executed at times, Hvarf-Heim is a supplementary release – it accompanies the documentary Heima – that nobody but the most hardcore of Sigur Rós fans needs in their collection. If such a sort of fan actually exists, that is – just how ‘hardcore’ can a man be about music so tepid?
As true as this is
i never thought i'd be reading a negaitive DiS review for Sigur Ros.
Then that shows just how disappointing this record is.
so well written..
I still love the band, but thhe bread is growing stale a bit.
nah
this record is good.
capitalizing? yes. but still good.
but it's certainly not great.
hmm
same here, though it got stale with takk and to some extent ba ba ti ki di do. takk was pretty generic, hopippolla was an emi cash in, and im just listening to this now, and its not really done anything for me... hmmmm... oh and hafsol is the same version as the one on the hopippola ep... hmm... VERY hmmm
I'm not sure about this yet
I'd prefer a new album sometime soon of course.
But...I will defend Takk, I think it's a wonderful album, one of my favourites of the decade thus far. It's not as good as (), but then little is. And I don't really care how many bloody BBC trailers plunder it.
the bbc ad for that photography show
is there best use of sigur ros so far, much better than when they were used on a top gear episode
I'll defend Takk as well
It is a very strong record (Glosoli is easily one of the best pieces of music the band have written) and would have been critically adored if what was by a band who didn't already have () (admittedly the better record) behind them.
I ordered this for the DVD, still waiting for it to arrive...
i will also
defend takk. i think it is a really amazing album.
i dug it out the other day
i loved it at first but quickly grew tired of hearing it everywhere - it's tainted!
Ads
When a song gets playlisted for a mobile phone, car or tv channel intro advert, the likelihood in our climate is that the music itself is top drawer. Final Fantasy, Sigur Ros, Vashti Bunyan, Devandra Banhart and Jackson and His Computer Band, have all become playlisted to their own credit. If anything should be overplayed, it's artists like these.
i love the artwork
i want this CD just for the front cover.
good review but...
if there's one thing Sigur Ros isn't, it's tepid.
somebody's caught up in the predictable backlash methinks.
i hav no idea
what tv programmes sigur ros gave their music too, so i for one wont get sick of any of their songs... i think
i dont watch any tv or listen to radio
some of the reviews on here make NME writers look like a talented bunch
craigx
oh and by the way
Hljómalind actually got 8/10 on this site a week or two ago
craigx
i watch tv and listen to the radio...
but i still love sigur ros and 'takk'.
i only agree with one line of this review "Hvarf-Heim is a supplementary release". Well, yes it was never meant to be a full follow-up to 'takk'.
after seeing the hilarious thread 'does anyone still like sigur ros?' the other week we should have expected this kind of "i'm cooler than you" review.
I'd normally rush out
and buy a sigur ros release but this does seem particularly unnecessary. I don't think sigur ros are really a band to benefit from a stripped down sound either.
Takk's really not that bad though. It has some really ace moments, it's certainly a better attempt at a shiny pop record than Mogwai have managed in recent times.
extremely uninteresting
release. i have to agree with this review: these tracks are extremely underwhelming and just sound old and tired.
to "redsleepingrichey": nah. no backlash here. i've liked a lot of sigur ros, but not everything they do is instant musical elixir either. sounds like your caught in the backlash-backlash...which is just sentimental favouring of their music despite its value? good or bad?
People don't like Takk???
wtf....
even if this is not so good
I would urge people not to be put off seeing the accompanying film, 'Heima', which is quite lovely.
Bit of a dodgy
backlash feel to that review, Mike.
It's a good little package - no, there's nothing outstandingly new on it but as a stop-gap release between albums it's far, far better than Ba Ba... was between () and Takk.... The Acoustic half is excellent, to boot. No, Jónsi really doesn't sound horrible - just suffers the usual live recording mic placement troubles as any other band does. It's not like it's an offical 'Unplugged', after all.
Also I recall () being universally decried as a step down from Ágætis Byrjun and Takk..., on its release, hailed as a band finding their feet and sound with their best album so far. It's really shameful people start to hate on a band or album or even song just because it becomes ubiquitous.
.
It does seem a bit of a strange backlash. I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive in the post, so was a bit bemused/disappointed to see this review.
Nice review for it on Pitchfork, which just seemed more informative and descriptive of it. & not just randomly hating them. Hopefully I can back this up tomorrow or so, when I get the cd and like it (if not maybe love it).
you suck
I'm not a hardcore fan of Sigur Ros by any means, but the scope and grandeur of this album must not react with your simplistic ears. Did you ever even listen to Von before? I wonder? Yes it is a album made primarily of remakes, but Takk (a great release I might add) is only 2 years old. Does Sufjan Stevens or Bjork release an album every 2 years? I'll take quality over quantity any day. Let's leave the every 1-2 year money making mediocre albums in the hands of the Decemberists, Architecture In Helsinki, or Okkervil River. For the time being I think this is an exquisite way for Sigur Ros to show their fans that their sound is ever evolving and worth the wait.
shocking review
This is not an objective review and therefore should not be taken any notice of. This is a good EP.
Mike, do you have a bone to pick with Sigur ros or something??
I don’t agree with anything you’ve said in this review
Get over yourself Mike and review music properly or get a new job because this is not only a disservice to Sigur Ros and EMI but also to your fellow online reviewers. It's your job to help the ordinary person begin to form a well rounded opinion on the subject matter. you've just shat all over it and made online reviewing look like what its been trying to avoid for so long... unreliable amateurish tripe.
Apologies people, subjective reviews like this get my back up, partly because of the amount of sheep out there who will take this as gospel and pass it on as their own opinion.