( )

As I said in my Agaetis Byrjun review, Sigur Ros can be extremely good at times, and not so much at others. This comes out in full force on ( ), hereby known as Brackets. The first half, the "happy" songs, are extremely good, utilizing piano and Jonsi's excellent falsetto that emits Hopelandic vocals to very good use, creating atmospheres of peace, contentedness, joy, and nostalgia- these songs remind me of carefree childhood years, from the perspective of an older person- remembering how the days were loose and pressure minimal, compared to the hard, fast modern life that older people are expected to live. However, the second half, the "sad" songs, are a bit dodgier, and longer. They're not bad, and at the right time, they can be pretty powerful, but they can't hold a candle to the brilliantly made first half. I'm grappling with the issue of how many stars to give it- I think that this record deserves more than two stars, so a three star rating, albeit a relatively weak one, seems to be in order.