Sigur Rós - Von (1997)

If you know me, you probably know that I adore the difficult-to-pronounce band out of Iceland called Sigur Rós ("victory rose"). They are in the running for one of my favorite bands ever, and for good reason; I would consider three of their albums perfect or borderline so, and they have made what I find to be some of the most emotional and moving music ever. Though they are known for their sprawling, epic masterpieces, the band started out quite differently; in exchange for painting a studio, they were allowed to record their debut album, Von. It is a very unusual album, with lengthy ambient passages (actually ambience, not just chill music). Recently I made a track-by-track review of the album and figured it'd be appropriate to post it here.

1. Sigur Rós: Ten minutes of ambient noises. Fuck yeah. Some of the earlier noises are neat sounding but about 6-7 minutes in there are screams and voices in the background that are creepy as fuck. There is nothing musical at all in this song, I'm afraid. Bizarre opener to an album...I would say its strongest merit is that because of it I can mention Sigur Rós when someone talks about bands with self-titled songs. Which is a bit sad. 3/10

2. Dögun: Huzzah, some semblance of musicality! This is the kind of ambient music that I prefer. Not random noises, but just extremely relaxed stuff. The singing is beautiful. Unfortunately about halfway through the music disappears in favor of the sounds of rain, indistinct voices, and a weird sound in the background that I can't describe....maybe a strangely distorted guitar with some sorta of wah. It's eerie, at any rate. Great start, but again with the ambient noises... 6/10

3. Hún Jörð...: This is more fucking like it. I love the quiet harmonics that make the groundwork of the song, but the real impressive aspect of the song is the singing...incredibly beautiful, but it sounds nothing like Jonsi does on later albums. I don't even know if it's him singing. The melody, while pretty, is uneasy and foreshadows dark things. The drumming shines as it lends the song a powerful sense of urgency without dominating the singing in any way. The song is very repetitive...the singing pretty much repeats the same thing over and over again, with more intense instrumentation each time, but it works so well. I could listen to that vocal melody over and over and over. Anyway basically shit gets in tents. Nothing else to it. Maybe I only like it so much because it's such a stark contrast to the first two songs full of ambient noise, but I really think it's a great song, even if it sounds nothing like their later music that I like so much. I love the part towards the end where the song is rewound and skips, it's a really trippy effect that works eerily well (even if it is a bit gimmicky). The first time I heard it, I thought my computer was messing up. The distorted laughter is really creepy but really awesome. And the screaming at 6:50 gives me shivers. Good shit. 9.4/10

4. Leit að lífi: More random ambient thingies. Yay! Not really. For some reason I'm reminded of The Beatles and their brief experiment with things of the sort. As it's simply a short interlude, no rating.

5. Myrkur: Another real song! Kickass. Myrkur has always heavily reminded me of She Sells Sanctuary by The Cult, which is in no way a bad thing. Myrkur is very dream poppy and very different from their later albums, but I love it. Again the vocals are not characteristic of later Jonsi at all, and they sound pretty similar to the ones on Hún Jörð, albeit with a friendlier and less epic melody. The song is pretty unchanging throughout its six minute run, but it doesn't feel overlong to me. 9/10

6. 18 sekúndur fyrir sólarupprás: "18 seconds before sunrise"...aka 18 seconds of silence. No rating for obvious reasons. They named their website after this song (or whatever it is).

7. Hafssól: More ambient noises as an intro. They seamlessly transition into more musical ambiance with some more heavenly singing. Very well done in that regard. Only thing is, nothing ever really happens in the song. Just more musical ambiance. It beats the hell out of unmusical ambiance, true, but still, it would be nice if it were more engaging. That said, I think it's probably the best ambient track on the album. 7/10

8. Veröld ný óg óð: A very strange piece of work that is made up of various percussive sounds overlapping with one another. Reminds me of Convergence by Jonny Greenwood. Creepy and maybe more interesting than some of the other ambient noises on the album, but still ambient noises. 4/10

9. Von: The very beginning of this song really creeped me out the first time I heard it because it makes the exact sound that I hear in my head when there is a slight hum when I exhale through my nose. Hard to explain but it's weird. Anyway. Another regular song! I love the percussion, and the singing is more Jonsi-like than perhaps anything on the album. And, as such, it is beautiful. Simple but amazing, and featuring acoustic guitar, which came as a bit of a shocker given the album up to this point. 9.6/10

10. Mistur: Short ambient interlude #2. Or #3 if you count the 18 seconds of silence from before. No rating.

11. Syndir Guðs (Opinberun frelsarans): The beginning is similar to Olsen Olsen from their second album, but the similarities end at the bass riff. There is really some bizarre stuff going on here. Strange noises fly around, that almost sound like children's toys, or maybe a robot communicating in robot speak. I like what they do with the vocals, singing in one ear and whispering in the other. Really strange effect but I like it. This song manages to unite some of the creepy elements with some of the beautiful ones, and for that reason I think it is one of the most interesting tracks, if not one of the very best. 9.3/10

12. Rukrym: Six minutes of silence, and then a hidden track which consists of some of Myrkur played backwards. Vaguely novel but they already did the same thing once on the album and it just doesn't add anything. No rating, similar to the case with Avalon on Agaetis Byrjun.

Average Score: 7.15/10
My Rating: 7/10

Von is a very strange album to debut with. It has almost no hints of Sigur Rós's future sound. The actual songs range from good to amazing, but to be honest, I feel like they wasted far too much time dicking around with ambient noises. I mean sure it's good for a laugh, but should you start your debut album off with 15 minutes worth of ambiance before anything vaguely interesting happens? No, you shouldn't. In a way I admire them for having the balls to do so. But in another way I don't, because I don't think they accomplished anything artistically by doing so, and I always skip the first two tracks on the rare occasion that I even bother to listen to the album in the first place beyond throwing one of the random tracks I actually like on. I do, however, admire the cover. I think it is very representative of the album as a whole...it is both creepy and beautiful at the same time. But mostly creepy.

Do I recommend this album to you? Only if you either: a) have explored all Sigur Rós's other work and are curious, b) enjoy creepy ambient noises, or c) are very patient and willing to make it through a lot of potentially uninteresting stuff for some payoff that may not be that great. Otherwise, stay away and enjoy the band's later, more accessible and much superior work. But it is at the very least interesting to see how the band started. They only sold 313 copies in the first year. Small start, but hey, they must have done something right.