Takk opens with an ambient piece that gently sets the stage for the ethereal music that follows. Conspicuously absent is the center-piece of Sigur Ros' otherworldly soundscapes, the voice of Jonsi Birgisson. Not to worry, though, as that high-pitched wailing glissando permeates the rest of the album.
It wasn't until I saw the band play live that I realized just how many of the unfamiliar sounds that fill their songs are actually Birgisson's vocal mannerisms. For some reason this made me appreciate their craft even more.
Those angelic utterances shimmer and shine in the background of most of these 11 songs and they turn into a most beautifully expressive musical instrument (even more so in light of the fact that the words are sung in a half-made up language, which would be difficult enough to comprehend if the 'real' language were English, but of course it's NOT...Icelandic, which is not exactly a required language course in most curriculums). So it doesn't matter what the lyrics may be about, it's sheer emotive force that propels these songs into the subconscious where they adhere as if super-glued to it...
In fact, I see that they are this very evening playing in Vancouver and if there were a way...if I were a wealthy man with lots of time on my hands...I'd like nothing more than to be there.
My initial curiosity in Sigur Ros was peaked by a Vanity Fair blurb that told of enraptured listeners captivated by the band's sounds to the point where they were actually fainting en masse...I didn't see that happen at the Denver, Colorado show I drove across three states to see, but the crowd was unanimous in the consensus that the performance was incredible.
If you have never heard Sigur Ros, may I please suggest that you click on THIS LINK and watch the video for the second track on the album, "Glosoli". I just watched it for the first time several moments ago and it's wonderous images are still resonating within. I don't normally like to associate a song with a video, but this one is so brilliant and well-conceived that it may stick for quite awhile.
The song itself blooms from minimalistic beginnings into the sound of light penetrating the darkness. Bright glockenspiel melodies give a music-box feel to the sustained wail of a bow drawn across the strings of a highly amplified electric guitar. Jonsi almost sounds as if he's weeping at times, singing at castrato pitch that noone over the age of 12 is going to be able to pull off...I don't know how he does it.
Of course, you're left clueless as to what he's actually saying, what sublime words that could be understood by mortal minds could produce such gut-wrenching vocal gymnastics. It soon ceases to matter, as you are assaulted by a wall-of-guitars that sound like the ghost of Kevin Shields paid a visit. With Jonsi's esoteric chanting repeating at the core the guitars reach for Nirvana but fall just short of heaven.
This is not yer typical Aerosmith kind of rockin', but it nevertheless IS rock, and the driving wind-up of "Glosolio" is made even more powerful and "rockin'" by the steadiness of the rhythm section.
Brian Wilson's muse, the one that gave him Pet Sounds and all those beautiful melodies, came out of retirement and inspired Sigur Ros to write some harmony lines in "Hoppipolla" that trump even the classic Beach Boys. A step up from the string quartet they used to excellent effect on their last album, ( ), "Hoppipolla" and other portions of Takk use a full orchestra, with even more majestic results.
Still the most jaw-dropping aspect of "Hoppipolla" and "Meo Blodnasir" is the way almost each "instrument" in the mix is Birgisson's voice, processed to various degrees, making up almost every sound heard in the track (besides drums, bass & glockenspiel). This is what I'd hoped for when I'd heard that Bjork's last album was going to be made up of only the voice. I wasn't all that impressed, though I don't guess I gave it a proper chance. Need to rectify that.
"Se Lest" has a children's lullaby quality to it that I confess I hear in much of their work. That's okay with me, as long as the results are this enchanting. I particularly like how at the end of the song the glock and vibraphones make way for the entrance of a brass band that is playing root chords that sound like a funeral dirge extracted from the life-affirming squeals that proceeded it. Then the brass sections transforms it into an "oom-pah" type "happy polka", decorated with flourishes from the orchestra. Even so, the sound of Jonsi's voice returns to usher us back into the last moment of the song before the brass came along, stretching it to the point of exhaustion, before dissolving into the lone strains of the orchestra aural lace...
A percussive rhythm made up of noises that sound like insects being crushed by marching boots is our first impression of track number 6, "Saeglopur" (gonna have to get used to individual song titles, having become lazy with the last album's untitled fare). The band rocks again midway through this song, and the snake-like bowed guitar dances with another etheral chanting session Jonsi has going on, to good effect. At some point you notice that the bowed guitar has morphed into that full orchestra that's been popping up on a batch of these songs. What this all leads up to is one of the most cathartic sections of music ever recorded in the digital medium. Once again it matters not a bit that you can't understand a bleedin' word, as the power of the music alone has excused any need for words to complement it. A rare event these days, but one that takes place every five minutes on this album.
The other day an internet community friend made the comment that a friend had told him he thought Sigur Ros sounded like the soundtrack to whale sex. My friend made sure he let it be known that he "loves Sigur Ros", but that he had to admit it was funny. I must say it is mildly humourous, but my response read like this: "Whale sex must be the most awesome thing on the planet". I believed that before I heard Takk, and I'm even more convinced now.
The lullaby quality returns full force in "Milano", so much so that if you close your eyes you can almost picture yourself walking into a young child's room, tip-toeing around her furniture so as not to waken her. The essence of child-like innocence permeates the air in this sound world, something about those pretty bells, how they chime, drifts my mind back to a memory from within the womb, happy as a clam, still in constant communion with my guardian angel who sings these prayers over my soul, ready to experience the world (again?)...
My inner child metamorphisizes into a slobbering, blubbering, crying fool when he hears these hope-filled songs. They remind him of things he's long forgotten, and he enjoys remeniscing. "Milano" takes it's time building into a powerful climax not once but twice (though I don't think such a thing is theoretically possible, since "climax" implies finality)...oh well, you know what I mean, and yeah, the second one is a little more powerful than the first (only just enough to notice). And by the time the whole thing winds down the greedy little inner child bastard is sated, assuming the fetal position and as happy as if he'd been given back the pacifier that he was so dependent upon as a baby...Good work, Sigur Ros. Another successful therapy session. I feel better already.
The mood takes on a slightly more ominous tone in "Gong", as a string quartet plays a Shostakovich-esque piece before the guitars join, all leading into the grand entrance of a steady drum pattern. More guitar-heavy than the previous songs, "Gong" casts a shadow upon the more optimistic sounds of the first seven.
Do you remember that beautiful theme song from Twin Peaks that was sung by Julee Cruise with music by David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti? It was called "Falling". The introduction to the 9th and possibly most beautiful song on the album, "Andvari", is vaguely remeniscent of that haunting production.
"Andvari" utilyzes he orchestra to a greater, possible even more effective degree in this song, as goose-bump raising as any composed by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, et. al. Imagine the chords to the "Teenage Wasteland" section of the Who's "Baba O'Reilly" transmutated into strings, slowed down to an elegant crawl and all just bubbling under a surface marked off by the sound of violins milking that high note for every ounce of pathos it can get...
And it gets milked for a long, long time. If the first 5 minutes of the song hadn't been so rapturously hypnotizing we might not be as ready for the 3 minutes of repetition that ease us rather slowly out of the song.
And how do you follow that?
"Shushljott" attempts to do so by presenting a contrast to the peaceful parting strains of "Andvari". The tension builds until the music, for whatever reason, has to drop out for a few seconds before coming back in with the force of a tsunami wave. All the while Jonsi substituting Krishna's mantra with what sounds like a simple "You" and getting closer to bliss that way...
"Heysatan" concludes the album, with the return of the brass band, blowing solid chords to hang from the notes being played by guitar, bass and even a stray trombone from the brass section...A subdued finale, to be sure, kept interesting by the final series of vocal expressions inserted for surprise sake throughout. Somehow the melancholy sound that threatens to creep into the final strains of this wonderful album is barely staved off and you're left wanting to hear it all over again.
And trust me, this is an ALBUM, much more so than a "collection of songs" (though I think it works better as such here than it did on the last album)...for sure the individual songs have their own signature sounds, but the whole experience is so much more fullfilling when listened to as a whole.
That said, the "Glosolia" video I saw proved that this song can certainly stand up on it's own. No doubt all of them can, but I can't get used to the thought of hearing just a certain couple of songs off of the record...If I'm going to hear it, I want to hear it all, or at least as much of it as time permits.
Hate to jump the gun and proclaim Takk Sigur Ros best album yet...but...truth be told...it IS their best album yet.
I submit, for your enjoyment, this excerpt from a review of Takk written by another internet community friend who goes by the name of Maarts. He operates a music/CD store in Australia and trust me when I tell you that he has impeccable taste in music.
I can re-emphasise what JAC's sentimants are in regards to Takk by Sigur Ros...as this album spins yet again in my player, dissolving more of its intricate beauties and whirling it onto me, confirming my strong belief that this band is the band of the new millennium.
If Von was the sound of the echoes and the underground, Agaetis Byrjun the sound of the forest and air, ( ) the sound of water, fog and mist, then Takk is the river, the earth, nature and all the areas that yield growth and life. Takk's built around the same building materials as its three predecessors but the overall sounds are heavy with the sweet aroma of life- the raingiving clouds of strings surrounding the beds of percussion. Even those earlier mentioned 'humping' whales are represented in Jonsi's little shrieks amongst the dense textural patterns of wavelike music, if you will. Using a full complement of percussion (glockenspiel), guitars and piano, strings and ethereal loops/keys, it's the richest tapestry of sound the band has ever used.
I am simply unable to stop listening to this.
The thematic quality of these songs just is so grand, so big. With simple loops the band creates lullabies, to go on into Godspeed-built material that just is so symphonic, so cathedral-like constructed (Glosoli). Heart-tugging melancholical melodies (Svo Hljott) ripped open by feedbacked guitar, reaching for heavens undiscovered. The cri-de-coeur from Milano that is an epic in itself. Heysatan with its little brassband, playing at the corner giving you this homely feeling. Or Andvari that floats away on a sea of strings, to a clear blue and green sea, shimmering like a dream, taking you away, far, far away....
What really is impressive is how Sigur Ros not only builds the songs up but finishes them off with such delicacy that every track is like a three-course meal, every flavour so poised for a full and total satisfactory experience. No loose threads to be found.
This is their Pet Sounds. Now lets hope people will discover its value well before it's being classified as a masterpiece.
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