( )

It begins with a click as if a machine had been switched on, but what follows is anything but inhuman. Then the low, pleasantly droning, synth starts in and the first untitled track of Sigur Ros' ( ) begins. For their third full album Sigur Ros have taken away the orchestral flourishes of Agaetis Byrjun, and work instead with string quartet Amiina in a more minimalistic way, slowly building their songs like an intricate poem until the weight of them seems too heavy--then there is the release. The climax to most of the songs on ( ) are fully worth the time invested, especially track 8, which begins on a hopefull note until an air of darkness presents and is burned away by the pure, almost frustrated, energy at the end (Sigur Ros added a new drummer just before this release, and it shows).

Most people find this album depressing, and while I know the last four track have a sadness about them I would hardly think of it as depressing. The songs have too much purpose, so much stark beauty, to be truely depressing (for them to be depressing, in my mind, the songs would simply fizzle out and stop. None of the songs on ( ) ever actually do that; there is always some kind of resolution at the end). Like the best minimalist music, I think the songs on ( ) require a bit of audience participation. The listiner must put a bit of thought into the songs as well as passively listen. Just a fair warning.

In terms of Sigur Ros albums, I think it's their best, most coheared and consistant work. Hell, I think it's probably one of the best post rock albums that have been released so far; it goes along with Spiderland and Lift Your Skinny Fists quite nicely.