Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun

The title 'Agaetis Byrjun' means 'A good start' or 'An OK start' and comes from a comment one of their friends made on hearing an early demo of a song from this album.

If you haven't heard any Sigur Ros, this album is the best place to start. It was voted Iceland's Album of the Millenium (despite no albums being released in Iceland for the first 9 centuries).

This album, compared to their other efforts is quite string-heavy and also features the singer's trademark, playing the guitar with a bow, and the first time they sung in Hopelandic, a made-up language that features heavily in () and Takk.

One aspect of their music that is lost on a lot of their fans is the lyrics. Translations are available on the net, search them out and have a read of them whilst you listen to the album! It should add an extra dimension to their music!

At a push, I'd say this is my favourite record in my collection. Whilst not all is to my tastes ('Starálfur' sounds a little too much like a Disney number), there are moments here of such intense beauty that it's hard not to get caught up in it all. Even after 5 years of heavy rotation, the climax of 'Viðrar Vel Til Loftárasa', 'Ný Batterí' and co still get me. Every time.

Despite their later release '( )' seemingly reaching a much wider audience, for me this will always be their landmark album. Essential.

Translation/explanation of the track titles:
'Svefn-g-englar' = 'Sleepwalkers', but if you drop the -g- in the middle it changes to 'Sleep angels'; 'Starálfur' = 'Staring elf'; 'Flugufrelsarinn' = 'The liberator of flies'; 'Ný batterí' = 'New batteries'; 'Hjartað hamast' = 'The heart is pounding'; 'Viðrar vel til loftárása' = 'Good weather for airstrikes', words that were actually spoken by an icelandic TV weatherman during the first gulf-war; 'Olsen olsen' is the name of a popular cardgame; 'Ágætis byrjun' = 'A pretty good start'.