The Daily Spin, September 19
Sigur Ros | Valtari
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: Valtari (2012)
Artist: Sigur Ros
Link:
Lovely music that finds itself with a classic post-rock length problem, eight songs stretched over nearly an hour of sound in ways that make it difficult to keep my attention - Valtari is Icelandic group Sigur Ros’ sixth album, and the one that splashed them into the public consciousness.
It’s easy to see why - this is This Will Destroy You if it were lighter and airy, open and free, the closing scene of a movie where the Athletics win it all instead of coming up short, Brad Pitt watching a different sunset, somewhere new, somewhere better. Though the lyrics are Icelandic, it still works, crooned gently over sparse arrangements that function perfectly well without - it’s like the parmesan on your food at Olive Garden, where you can get by just fine without it but sometimes it’s nice to have all the same.
If it were just a hair tighter, this would be a truly outstanding effort - and as is, this is still remarkably good, but it just goes on a tick too long one too many times for my liking.
Rating: 8.3/10
Best Tracks: Rembihnutur; Varud
Worst Tracks: Valtari