SVEFN-G-ENGLAR

As far as I can tell this was a US-only release. Can't remember where I picked it up but I did so for the two unreleased live tracks that form the second half of this close on 35 EP (that's the length of a whole album in old vinyl days!). And if you're a Sigur Ros afficionado it's worth getting just for the live stuff alone. The first two tracks both appear on Agaetis Byrjun but the second two are unavailable elsewhere and were recorded by the Icelandic Broadcasting National Broadcasting Service at the Icelandic Opera House on June 12th 1999. The first live track Nyja Lagid is an epic sllice of what Sigur Ros do best - almost funereally paced space rock that wanders across nine blissful minutes of lush soundscape. It's about as glacial as the landscape the band comes from - and as monumental. The guitars (bowed and otherwise) send out huge washes of lush distortion, the keyboards are floaty and Floydian and the drums are almost non-existent, just the merest lazy pulse in the background to keep the smearing swathes of noise in check, it's a beautiful song, the equal of anything on Agaetis Byrjun. The second track Sybdir Guds is more structured, more song like in feel but is equally well received by the enthusiastic crowd and by me. This is Sigur Ros at their most uplifting, most soaring. () would be a much more sombre, minimalist affair. On these two live tracks the band's place at the top of the post rock tree is defended with ease. The three-star rating is given simply because two of the tracks appear on Agaetis Byrjun and in essence you paying for a couple of live curios. But if you're a Sigur Ros nut then these two tracks are must haves.