The post rock subgenre was about to explode - and Sigur Rós and particularly, Ágætis byrjun, were just as vital to the movement as Slint and Talk Talk.Okay, this media detox thing is for the birds. Ágætis byrjun was yet another landmark post rock record to be released in the nineties, but it is the idiosyncrasies of Sigur Rós that set the album apart from its peers. Rarely does an artist that composes music and lyrics in Icelandic emerge in both the UK and U.S., though it speaks to their ingenuity and their capacity to draw poignancy and wonder from their sprawling sonic landscape. To this day, Sigur Rós has sustained a career of evolution and success over the course of the past few decades, with some of the band’s most affecting pieces to follow their 1999 installement.
Each piece contains a singular purpose, momentum, and climax. And although it works exceptionally as one entity, Ágætis byrjun is not less impactful on a track-by-track basis, contrary to some of its eventual peers. The wide, sprawling range of arrangement is stunning - “Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm)” amalgamates revolving keyboards, harmonica, and longing cellos closer “Avalon” commences with a density charged with electronics and distant brass that mix with drone roots and “Ný batterí” builds off a foreboding bassline and brass section to cascading cymbals. It’s the album’s longest track, but never has an individual listen been labored. On the 10+ minute “Viðrar vel til loftárása,” momentum shifts from a windswept intro to a wondrous piano and orchestral convergence in the center to a chaotic surge of distorted guitars and soaring strings. The record is slow-burning by nature, but is rarely anything less than enthralling, though the peaks are transcendent. Too often we talk about textures in the actual instrumentation, but on Ágætis byrjun, the vocals are as critical as any in the post rock universe. On the pseudo-opener “Svefn-g-englar,” Birgisson is an essential fit in the delicate, airy atmosphere, while on “Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm),” his whispering and exasperation is just as ominous as the bizarre soundscape.
Though the release is likely even more compelling for those that can speak Icelandic, the soothing falsetto of Jonsi Birgisson is a defining trait of the band. A 71-minute affair, it flaunts the extravagance that we’ve come to expect with the subgenre, paired with an organic, free-flowing sound wholly consistent with human emotion. Though Sigur Rós wet their feet with the predominantly ambient Von, which was inconsistent, but showcased flashes of the brilliance to come, Ágætis byrjun was the artist’s true breakthrough.
Ágætis byrjun translates to “A Good Beginning,” and looking back, it seems like a gross understatement. And after a promising, yet flawed debut in 1997, the Icelandic outfit, Sigur Rós, delivered yet another post rock masterpiece in the decade’s final year.
Experimental at its core, post rock shattered the barriers and norms of what constituted rock music, with boundless, amorphous potential. Though the bands’ backgrounds, compositions, and sonic approaches could not be more different, each is credited with the birth, or at least the burgeoning of the post rock subgenre - one that developed out of rock music, but de-centralized the vocals extended album lengths and relied on textures and dynamic shifts. In 1991, a ripple effect was about to reverberate from the release of landmark records Laughing Stock and Spiderland, of Talk Talk and Slint fame respectively.
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