Editorial Review:

Item Description:
Inspired by the unfettered feeling of the acoustic performances filmed during Heima, Sigur Rós
adopted a looser approach in creating their fifth album Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust.
The album consequently is fresher and more human than anything they ve previously
recorded.
Rough edges, cracked notes, and the sound of fingers on strings are audible resulting in tracks
(e.g. Íllgresi ) that prove to be the band's sparsest and most affecting work to date. Worry not
though, plenty of electric guitar can be heard throughout the album ensuring Sigur Rós
commitment to challenging sonic limitations.
Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust is truly a groundbreaking album for Sigur Rós. It s the
first time they ve attempted to write, record, mix, release and support (by touring) an album in
the same year. Notoriously known for their laborious writing/recording style and their Icelandic
roots, Sigur Rós decided to record an album outside of Iceland for the first time. Recording,
mixing and mastering sessions took place in such un-Reykjavik cities as New York (Sear
Sound and Sterling Sound), London (Abbey Road and Assault & Battery) and Havana. The
result is pretty much their leave home album, the anti-Heima.
The opening track, Gobbledigook , is a manifesto setter with its shifting/no time signature. On
the last track, All Alright , Sigur Rós find themselves singing a song solely in English for the
first time. The seventh track, Ára Bátur , was performed with a full orchestra and the London
Oratory Boys Choir. This was recorded in one take with no overdubs and the result was 90
people playing at once and just one perfect take. This is their first album working with Flood
(U2, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey) and the first since their debut to not be recorded with Ken
Thomas. It was a true co-production, one that found Sigur Rós breaking out of old
molds/habits.
The cover artwork is a photo taken from a flyer for Ryan McGinley s most recent photo
exhibition in NYC, I Know Where the Summer Goes , and the image captures perfectly the
spirit of the album, one of free-spirited happiness and exploration.
The band will be touring the US throughout the fall of 2008 to support Med Sud I Eyrum Vid
Spilum Endalaust.

Amazon.co.uk:
Sigur Rós--the sound of snow-capped peaks. Or winged things flocking over vast plains. Or salmon making that final courageous, muscular leap upstream, homeward bound. Ever since the BBC so aptly enlisted the help of the band’s 'Hoppipolla' single to theme the groundbreaking natural history series Planet Earth, the ever-ethereal Icelandic band have become somewhat typecast, finding themselves conducting awe across the backdrops of nearly every other programme in that broad genre. And with that came the danger that all which followed would automatically become an instant cliché. And though their last album Takk saw a slowing of their evolution in favour of solidifying the established sound in accessible earfuls, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (which translates as 'with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly') sees enough of a stylistic twist to keep things moving, without undercutting this new approachability. Where previously they sounded untouched by human hands, all alien post-rock abstractions, they now sound much more organic, sometimes literally like men playing instruments in a room. Albeit pensively, and extraordinarily. It is a perky record, attentive and exquisite, familiar but not derivative. The rhythmically adventurous 'Gobbledigook' reminds of Brooklyn experimentalists Battles, unplugged, the xylophone heavy 'Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur' is this album’s 'Hoppipolla' and 'Ara Batur' is trembling, lonely and eventually triumphant. 'Festival', the album’s centrepiece, melds the old and new Sigur Rós dramatically over nine majestic minutes and must number amongst the best moments of their career. -- James Berry









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Disc 1:

1. Gobbledigook
2. Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
3. Gódan daginn
4. Vid spilum endalaust
5. Festival
6. Med sud í eyrum
7. Ára bátur
8. Íllgresi
9. Fljótavík
10. Straumnes
11. All Alright

Rating: - * Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust ... Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (2008, XL) Sigur Ros's fifth studio album. **** As any fan of Sigur Ros knows, they're fantastically strange. And anyone who does not like them would say the same, only changing that they're too strange, and that they're being different for the sake of being different. It's easy enough to say that the lyrical approach is pretentious; Sigur Ros sing in a Norwegian jibberish, encouraging their fans to make up their own words. No album better expresses their artsy tactfulness (or lack thereof, as some may say) than 2002's ( ), which had no titles, no lyrics, no acknowledgements, no nothing. The cover simply had the parenthesis and the band's name, and beyond that it was a mystery. Now Sigur Ros have taken a new direction, and even the most devoted fan would have to say it is fairly different from anything they've done before. The opener, "Gobbledigook," is probably the most upbeat song the band has ever performed, and the whole album feels this way. While with Takk... and ( ) Sigur Ros explored the depths of moodiness, subtlety, and spaciness, Med Sud I Eyrum takes a turn for the spiritual, presenting itself in different fashions. The genres range from folk-stomp to church hymn to tribal beats, but no where does the album not feel as if it was made in the spirit of hope and the unknown. Sure, we've no idea what they might be saying (as the lyrics are again in a foreign mix of nonsense), but Sigur Ros have successfully demonstrated that they are only about music, and that their voices are merely tools for creating beautiful sounds and that the words are unimportant. Without saying anything, they have communicated a message purely through music, and that is a feat in and of itself. (Godan Daginn, Festival, Med Sud I Eyrum) Rating: - * Ice-tastic! ... This is my first try with a foreign language CD. Sigur Ros is a great band from Iceland and their beautiful melodies are wonderful to listen to. I know that American music is popular all over the world, now I know what it feels like to get into the sound of a band, even if you do not understand the language they are singing in. It is very different, a very interesting sound. Rating: - * I just cant stop listening to this album ... There are some albums where you like one or two songs and the rest just does nothing for you. then there are albums where you like every song on it but then after a while it gets old and it falls by the wayside. this album took me completely off guard. i heard a song on a local college station and took a chance buying the whole album....i must have listened to it through ten times or more since i bought it and each song remains fresh and new. im even hard pressed to name one or two favorites beacause each song remains as strong as the one before it....the songs are rich and passionate. emotional but catchy...i dont understand the lyrics but you dont really have to. the music pulls you in and takes you in a "pied piper" fashon....i think i can officially call myself a die hard fan Rating: - * Lacking emotional connectivity. ... What happened to my dearest Sigur Ros? Why so mellow? I understand everything/one must evolve. But why in this direction? It simply lacks the intensity found in their earlier works. It should `work', but it simply fails to click with me. Track by track analysis: Globbdigook- Downright pop. Or freak-folk, depending upon how you look at it. Catches you at first listen, but ultimately, like nearly everything on this album, lacks substance. The `lalalalala'ing? Are you kidding me? I know I shouldn't play the compare game, but people. Listen to Untitled One (Vaka), then this in succession. Serious drop in quality. Inní mér syngur vitleysingur -A bad circus. Chaos. Sudden explosion of sound. Appears like it's trying to be catchy, but it isn't even that. I'm amused by the fact some of it sounds like it's in English though. `A thirsty anger' `kinky' `we flip and throttle' . Góðan daginn- My favorite of the album. It's a comforting song to me. Completely different direction than my older favorite SR tracks. However, it just works for this song. It's beautiful. Gives me hope for some other potential off this album. I feel some actual emotion here! Við spilum endalaust- I have nothing to say about this. Evokes no emotion from me. Festival- Starts slow. I like to think I have patience for buildups, but I lost it here. 4:45, finally hearing signs of life again. I like it when the strings get a little more emphasis opposed to the blasted overused drums. Nice when the buildup reaches its full point. Yet I manage to forget this every time until it gets to that point. Með suð í eyrum- I don't have a proper version of this currently, and am not able to acquire one at the moment. Ára bátur- Initially reminds me of Samskeyti. I'm gooing to be honest here, no idea why I don't like this. Illgresi- I've never listened to a SR song and consciously thought "I wish this was in English" until now. There's nothing to focus on. In situations like this I typically suck it up and listen to the meaning the artist is trying to express, but I get nothing but slight sadness. If it felt impassionate to me I believe I would feel differently about this song. Fljótavík- The beginning was encouraging. I'm not sure what makes this song different from Ilgresi for me, but this one feels more emotional. A feel a little Vaka off ( ) here. A stronger track off the album. The ending is quite beautiful and touching. Straumnes- The transition from Fljótavík to this does seem very cohesive. Very relaxing song. Depending on who you are Iguess this could be a positive thing, but I prefer their intense side personally. Not a bad track though. Arguably a filler. All Alright- I never thought they would ever create a song with English lyrics. I'm really a fan of the lyrics, simple but evocative all the same. The actual music lacks the intensity of say, Untitled Eight, but what can one do? This doesn't even really seem like a two-star review. When everything else SR produces is just so damn euphoric, a slightly above average album [even that's pushing it in this situation] from them warrants two stars. I attempt to respect their right to change. It's just incredibly difficult for me to lose a band I've been so emotionally connected with for so long. ( ) is one of the top three albums I've ever heard. The passion on that album is untouchable. It's almost like they're afraid to go back into that territory, with each proceeding album more and more mellow. But what do I know. The new music `should' work. For some reason it just does not connect with me. I can't make it through the entire thing without a `Cold', `Untitled Eight' ,'Avalon', `Svo Hljott', `Olsen Olsen', or `Ebow' listening. Rating: - * More Icelandic beauty. ... Endalaust is an interesting album to me. If my impressions of the band's general sound from listening to ( ) is accurate, which I'm pretty sure it is, then Endalaust is a significant departure from that. It's less post rock and more hippie indie wanky stuff, in a very entertaining way. But plenty of bands have changed their sound, what's interesting to me is how they don't abandon their old ways. Their earlier sound slowly creeps back into the album while it's playing, eventually completely taking over again. It tells a story just with the evolution of its sound more than any album I can remember. It seems to me like a youth growing older, or maybe an adult reverting to childhood, I can't tell which. But it's really beautiful anyway. "Gobbledigook" is the single with the music video featuring happy, dancing, naked people; imagery that really fits the song pretty well. The pounding drums make the song for me, and the off-beat guitar and high pitched voices accompany it well. The next few songs continue with the same feel, using strong beats, plinking keys, and catchy vocals to catch the attention. "Festival" is a more traditional long, slowly building track that reaches a soaring climax, although it has a quality that differentiates it from similar songs they've done before. It's just the choice of instrumentation, but it captures all the power of that technique while still sounding new. "Ára Bátur" reminds me the most of their old sound, but as it goes on an orchestra builds up and reaches a swelling crescendo so powerful that while listening to it in the car, I forgot to make my turn. The next few songs are lower key, softer tracks, none of which astound, but they're nice enough to listen to. The last song, "All Alright", is the band's first sung in English, although it doesn't make a difference when I can barely understand him anyway. It's a nice enough way to close out the record, though.