To be honest though, most of their work resembles this:
Most of my friends like them. But when one friend said, "They sound like a bland version of Sigur Ros," I had to check out Sigur Ros. (Them's fightin' words...) I got my hands on their stuff and to be honest I hear a few similarities with some of their songs but they are two completely different bands. Here is the song I think sounds most similar and it is also my favorite song of Sigur Ros'.
I heard Sigur Ros was going to be in town and I went on line and priced the tickets and was I said to myself, regrettably, no. Then I swear the next day I was called to attend a focus group where I would be paid $175 cash to give my opinion about furniture stores. That was dinner and a concert.
I told my friends I was going to see Sigur Ros and most of them gave me that look you give someone when they start speaking in tongues. "Uh, they're an Icelandic band and I don't know what they're saying but they make a lot of pretty noises," was the best I could come up with.
If you've never heard them, they're hard to define in other terms. They have these beautiful songs that are equally powerful. The song will be very complicated yet quiet and pretty and then all of a sudden they'll blow you away with this intense wall of sound.
Don't get them confused with shoegazers who were good for the wall of noise effect. These guys know what they're doing. They aren't accidentally using reverb to cover up their mistakes.
While only their drummer is classically trained they know how to play their instruments. The guitarist and lead singer bows his guitar and the sound just rips through the room. He sings in a falsetto so well that he was able to hit every single note for 2 hours. I can't sing in a falsetto for half an hour at karaoke without cracking. Of course I don't do it for a living either... and I maybe have more to drink before I go on stage than he does? I don't know about that, but I know it usually takes a bit of alcohol to get me to sing in front of people. Okay that's a lie. I can do it sober too.
But I digress.
I saw Sigur Ros on Wednesday night with my boyfriend. I've been to a lot of concerts and this one was easily the best. At one point I turned to him and said, "That one song was worth the price of admission."
The price of admission was $96 for 2 people. That does not include parking and snacks while at the Cedar Park Center. I did not care for the venue. The seats were terrible and they were uncomfortable at best. In spite of that the show was phenomenal. I would even go back to that venue to see them play again. My boyfriend's comment was that he was surprised by how much they could rock and well... yeah those guys can rock it pretty hard.
I think they're classified as post rock because they're Icelandic and there's a limited population of people who can understand what they're saying. Literally... there are more people in Austin than there are in Iceland.
You know when you listen to classical music how it gives you a feel or imagery? What this makes me feel is something akin to the more poetic elements of World War I which I know very little about. But they use gas masks in more than one of their videos so perhaps that's where it comes from. I just know if I did a little bit of research I could write a story about World War I and I'd have my sound track laid out.
I digress again.
Basically, if you have the opportunity to see these guys live they're worth it. Their live show adds dimension and texture to their studio recordings. I left wanting to hear more of their music. I couldn't tell you the names of the songs they play because I don't speak Icelandic but I can tell you that I like almost all of their songs. I love several of their songs and I walked out of that show feeling like staying out late and going to work tired would be worth it.
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