Before I get to the heart of the matter. Let's just say that when a band puts out an album it's should be viewed as a statement or '' mise au point'' of where they currently are musically. The impact it will have on listeners depends on the receptiveness of the listener if the fans at the receiving end are tuned in on the bands present state of mind, it will be a good record if not well..., If we assume that the above is true then all reviews are biased and mine will be also.
Now to Valtari. This record is unlike anything else from Sigur Ros so I will not be making any comparatives to previous works. This album is Beautifull! very calm at least on the surface, at times it is very soothing and at times it can be very disturbing.
It is not an easy first time listen but Valtari grows on you the more you do. The songs or rather the soundscapes on this album make you travel to wonderfully calm states of mind and cojure up beautifull images but everywhere along the way there are points where you are brought back to a bleaker reality and sometimes it is quite disturbing. An example of this is the ending of Eg anda the first track where the final is a violent irruption of machine noise that breaks up the beautifull images conjured up by the rest of the piece, you can barely hear hints of faint vocals and piano trying to remind you of the beauty of Ég Anda but the parasite noises finally drown out all the beauty. These disturbing sound intrusions are as mentionned previously present in all pieces except the last track Fjögúr Píanó with only piano and strings wich fade in utter calm right down to the last note in a wonderfull decrescendo.
tracklist 1. Ég Anda 2. Ekki Múkk 3. Varúð 4. Rembihnútur 5. Dauðalogn 6. Varðeldur 7. Valtari 8. Fjögúr Píanó
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