{"id":10511,"date":"2013-08-12T10:56:49","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T17:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=10511"},"modified":"2013-08-12T10:56:49","modified_gmt":"2013-08-12T17:56:49","slug":"sigur-ros-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2013\/08\/sigur-ros-2\/","title":{"rendered":"SIGUR R\u00f3S"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SIGUR-ROS-M-Review-No27\"S<\/b>IGUR R\u00f3S<\/b><\/h1>\n

Kveikur<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

[XL]<\/p>\n

What is it about Sigur R\u00f3s? By rights, this Icelandic band shouldn\u2019t be anywhere near popular enough to headline Madison Square Garden or appear on The Simpsons<\/i>, and yet in the first half of 2013, they\u2019ve done both, building anticipation for this, their seventh album of elliptical, ethereal, strangely enchanting \u201cdream rock,\u201d as many describe their sound. This time out, \u201cnightmare rock\u201d sometimes seems the better term, though for all its ominous textures, abrasive screeching and sludgy, almost Nine Inch Nails\u2013worthy synth tones, Sigur R\u00f3s\u2019 most aggressive album retains a certain curious beauty.<\/p>\n

As always, frontman J\u00f3nsi Birgisson sings in the made-up language \u201cHopelandic,\u201d a variation of Icelandic, making it utterly impossible to understand the lyrics. The album\u2019s Wikipedia page offers English translations of the song titles, and while you can\u2019t believe everything you read online, they seem about right. Lead single \u201cBrennisteinn\u201d is said to mean \u201cBrimstone,\u201d and indeed, it\u2019s a fiery, apocalyptic thing\u2014a haunting epic undercut by grinding synths. \u201cIsjaki,\u201d or \u201cIceberg,\u201d is almost poppy by comparison, and at 5:04, the twitchy, spacey tune is among the leaner cuts. \u201cStormur\u201d is even shorter and more accessible, with its heroic keyboard swells and twinkling xylophone or toy piano. If the title means \u201cStorm,\u201d it might describe a tranquil moonlit snow squall.\u00a0And so it goes for much of Kveikur<\/i>, as Sigur R\u00f3s aim to entrance and mystify, not to overwhelm us with their sonic grandiosity. Maybe that\u2019s why they get to hang with Homer and play New York\u2019s biggest room. \u2013Kenneth Partridge<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SIGUR R\u00f3S Kveikur [XL] What is it about Sigur R\u00f3s? By rights, this Icelandic band shouldn\u2019t be anywhere near popular enough to headline Madison Square Garden or appear on The Simpsons, and yet in the first half of 2013, they\u2019ve done both, building anticipation for this, their seventh album of elliptical, ethereal, strangely enchanting \u201cdream […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[196,6875,6977,4087,4089],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10513,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10511\/revisions\/10513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}