Sigur Rós - Sæglópur EP

It is easy to have opinions, good or bad, about music. Any Average Joe can listen to a song or album and have a strong or not-so-strong feeling about it. The trick to being a critic is to gather valid reasons for the opinion. It is this which makes some reviews trickier than others. Particularly for negative reviews, which need a lot more support for justifying tearing down the artistic statement of another person.

Post-rock has always driven me up a wall. It has always surprised me that I react that way to the genre. It takes many aspects that I value in other music and combines them into one happy package. I love it when music goes from soft to loud, rather than keeping the same volume all the way through. Similarly, minimalism (particularly in classical music) really strikes a bell with me. Yet post-rock, a genre that thrives on both differences in volume and in being minimalistic, doesn't do anything for me.

I have tried my hardest to make something click. From my early purchases of Godspeek You! Black Emperor to Sigur Ros to the newest Explosions in the Sky album, all have left me feeling aggrivated and bored. It traces back to my realization that the genre as a whole is built around that emotional "high" that occurs when the music starts off really soft and then slowly builds and climbs into a fuzzy explosion of sound. It can be a really effective tool when used sparingly, but the general mindset of post-rock artists seem to be getting several of those peaks in every track. What had been an effective tool suddenly becomes tired formula and manipulation.

This is where Sigur Ros tends to break from the pack. They still deal in varying between soft and loud, but rather than relying on slow climbs to induce the emotional high, they instead use more sudden shifts and, in an genre that is mostly instrumental, vocals. The vocals are delicate and precious, threatening to break at any given moment. There are no lyrics, simply constanants and vowels in a meaningless order. (Or as fans prefer to consider it, the lyrics are open for your own interpertation.)

The appearance of vocals and the sudden shifts give Sigur Ros a more normal sounding song structure than most post-rock artists. This anchor keeps the music from simply becoming a formless mass of peaks and valleys. It is these differences that have catapulted Sigur Ros to the top of the post-rock pack.

There are four tracks on the CD part of the set. The first track, "Sæglópur," is from the Takk full length album. Then there are three new tracks. Each one carves its own little nitch in the Sigur Ros catalog and are essential for the avarage Sigur Ros fan. The quality is also on par with the other Sigur Ros material making the EP much more than a money grab from their fans.

Packaged with the CD is a DVD with three music videos. The single, "Sæglópur," is again represented, as is two other tracks from Takk, "Glosoli" and "Hoppipolla." Each of the music videos is captivating in its own way, although "Glosoli" and "Sæglópur" are the strongest two. While the songs themselves don't really have any lyrical meaning beyond that which the listener chooses to apply to them, the videos are a narrative that works very well with the songs. When Sonic Youth released their album Goo, they decided to make a music video for each track on the album, making it a very visual album. Given the strength of the three music videos in this package, Sigur Ros should definitely consider doing the same thing.

This EP is a lot easier to handle than most of their material, simply because of the shorter play time. I can actually listen to the entire thing without getting too irritated, unlike a full length album. This makes the EP an ideal introduction to the band for those who aren't familiar with their music.