ÁGÆTIS BYRJUN

It really took a while to get into this album. Like a lot of post rock, it'll be hard to truly understand upon first, second, or third listen- much effort is needed to find the beauty in this album, but the effort is certainly worth it. On one hand, the album often offers sublime, sentimental beauty, best exemplified by the astounding Svefn-G-Englar. The core of the music consists of slow, clean drumming, Birgisson's angelic falsetto, low bass, and occasional bursts of noisy cello-bowed guitar. There is much else though- high, soulful strings on Starálfur, a jazzy intro in Hjartað Hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm) utilizing harmonica, tinkling bell sounds that sound like a much more childish version of those used on Radiohead's Kid A, and windy, airy ambience on the closing track, Avalon, not unlike Tangerine Dream. However, it's hard to stomach all 70 minutes of this at once- a song every now and then, that's how this record is best played. Highly recommended to fans of slow, soulful, glacial music.