01.

Sigur rs [9:47]
02. Dgun [5:50]
03. Hn jr ... [7:18]
04. Leit a lfi [2:34]
Sigur Rs 05. Myrkur
06. 18 sekndur fyrir slarupprs
[6:14]
[0:18]
07. Hafssl [12:25]

Von 08. Verld n og

09. Von
10. Mistur
[3:29]
[5:12]
[2:16]
11. Syndir gus (Opinberun frelsarans) [7:42]
12. Rukrym [8:59]

Rs makes Yes look like the Minutemen. Whittled down to 40

Jn r Brgisson - voice, guitar, keyboards
Georg Hlm - bass, keyboards
gst var Gunnarsson - drums
1996 Smekkleysa Sm / Ehf 67CD
Allmusic.com
The heaps of praise during 2000 surrounding 1999s gtis Byrjun
brought surprisingly little attention to Sigur Rs first record, released
in 1997. Remaining available only through the bands Icelandic label,
it took some effort to obtain, but those who did get a copy probably
found it to be just as adventurous as Agtis. Though darker and more
fractured than the string-laden nooks of the follow-up, its just as
sprawling and outright bombastic. Its remarkable that such a young
band would be this experimental at this stage in their lifespan, but the
sheer breadth gets to be an albatross. Poking fun at 70s prog rock is
just as easy as shooting at cement gargoyles on a suburban rooftop,
especially when youre an indie kid or a fan of post-rock. But Sigur
minutes, Von would be considerably more effective than it already is.
As a mood setter, the 10-minute opening track really takes about three
minutes to do what it needs, and a few other spots seem to drag on for
the sake of sucking time. That doesnt prevent Von from being
impressive, veering from Gavin Bryars-style aquatic minimalism to
My Bloody Valentine-style dream pop. Varying states of isolationist
ambience run throughout, whether evoking unrest or tranquil rest.
You can practically envision a stray headboard floating through the
Sinking of the Titanic-type passages, and the lush "Myrkur" comes
from a planet where MBVs Kevin Shields and Kitchens of
Distinctions Julian Swales are accorded the level or worship that
Earth gives to Hendrix and Clapton. And then there's that voice, one
of the most distinctly unintelligible voices since the Cocteau Twins
Liz Fraser. Boy? Girl? One would be hard-pressed to guess without
liner notes. Based on pure sound, Von is just as much of a treat as the
acclaimed follow-up.
 Pitchforkmedia.com
Before Sigur Rs won the inaugural Shortlist Prize in 2001 for
Agaetis Byrjun, they composed another album that would have met
the award's criteria. Fewer than 500,000 copies sold? Hell, Von
initially printed less than 500. A shining example of sacrosanct
iconoclasm? Truly. Kitschy and tongue-in-cheek enough to win over
Jack Black (who this year championed Eagles of Death Metal as his
sole nomination)? Well, they're Icelandic.
Around the release of Agaetis Byrjun, Sigur Rs promised to
"change music...and the way people think about music" forever.
Whereas on that record nestled cozily inside a fully realized voice
they sounded up to the task, Von is weighted down by the bands
bodacious ambition. At 72 minutes, the album is bloated with ideas
Sigur Rs would refine on their sophomore outing. As such, its an
exciting look back at a once-mysterious group who leaped from
obscurity to mug the mainstream. Young, earnest, eerie, and
overzealous, Von is a unique, almost belligerently unaffiliated piece of
music that unsubtly blazons its idiosyncrasies.
Naturally, Von kicks off with a bold mission statement: "Sigur
rs", which is purposefully stagnant and entirely too long. At more
than nine minutes in length, the track is an ambient impasse, a slow-
moving mass of nothing much. Imagine the nebulous prelude of
Agaetis Byrjun opener "Intro" stretched to 10 times its original length
and without a tension-breaker like "Svefn-G-Englar" to empty into.
"Dgun" prolongs the shapelessness, though in a slightly more affable
fashion: The song features the sort of ethereal, reverb-laden choral
intonations that tread the fenceline between blissed-out psych and
Enya-style therapop. But the voices are eventually fed through a
voicebox and garbled beyond recognition, establishing Sigur Ros on
the edgier side of the divide.
Things don't really get off the ground until "Hn jr..". Centered
around a harrowing vocal refrain, the song paints with darker hues
than Sigur Rs newer material, but still bears the bands un-
mistakable emblem. Tape splices chatter through the opening section
before a sludgy guitar and martial drums enter to pilot the fracas.
Uncharacteristically, one can actually hear a well-defined set of
reference points here, including Mogwai, Hawkwind, and Spacemen
3.
For the most part, however, Von is very distant from its time. Even
in its most conventional moments, Von sounds utterly unlike anything
from the period, and is only tentatively allusive of the bands fecund
latter-day output. "Myrkur", though redolent of Pink Floyd and Hum,
is happily and naively detached. Much like Agaetis Byrjun, Von
thrives on a certain amount of landscaping wandering the Icelandic
countryside is a surreal and uncanny experience, one that Sigur Rs
convey beautifully. But in sounding so consciously epic, the album
comes across more self-aware and thus less powerful than its
offspring. Rather, its a rugged, cave-dwelling cousin to Agaetis
Byrjun's stargazing hopefulness and environmentalism.
Sam Ubl, December 1st, 2004
Translations courtesy of sigur-ros.co.uk:
1. sigur rs victory rose
2. dgun dawn
3. hn jr mother earth
4. leit a lfi search for life
5. myrkur darkness
6. 18 sekndur fyrir slarupprs 18 seconds before sunrise
7. hafssl the sun's sea
8. verld n og a world, new and crazed
9. von hope
10. mistur mist
11. syndir gus (opinberun frelsarans) sins of god (revelation
of the savior)
12. rukrym ssenkrad