HLEMMUR (OST)

In fact, this is not a Sigur Ros' official album. This is soundtrack to film Hlemmur, what is an independent film by director Ólafur Sveinsson, which documents the lives of the inhabitants of Reykjavik's central bus station, from which the picture takes its name. Throughout the feature, Sveinsson interviews the homeless and/or drug-addled nomads that frequent the hub while, "with unexpected candor, they tell of the monotony of their existence, their hopelessness, addiction and misery." So the main goal of this record is to catch the athmosphere of this movie. It still have a some Sigur Ros signature, but the sound of this recording is very different to their official post-rock albums. This is pure electronic recording, without vocals, full of static electronic drones, wich sounds more like ambient recordings by Brian Eno. But still, this is very satisfying recording. First track, "Jósef Tekur Fimmuna í Vinnuna 1", starts with nice electronic drone, and gentle glockenspiel, and its melancholic atmosphere lasts for whole album. Some tracks are mostly about long electronic drones, for example Fyrsta Ferð, 1970 or one of the highlights of album - Hvalir í Utrýmingarhættu - other tracks contains a small percussion samples, very similar to Bjork's Vespertine, for example Hlemmur 1, Pversögn or Afram Island. Although album is slow- moving, not as contrast as their official albums, there is a lot of emotions in it - melancholy, depression, but also hope and something very gentle and beautiful. It's like leaving your body and let your soul fly above seas, geysirs of Iceland. An astral trip.

This is not post-rock album. This is pure ambient recording, but I think that none of Sigur Ros fans will be dissapointed by this nearly-masterpiece. Simply beautiful.