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Sigur Rós, Hvarf-Heim

by Allison Carter
11/22/2007

Sigur Rós has just recently released their new album Hvarf-Heim. The album is split into studio recorded songs and live acoustic songs, hence the hyphenated name.

Hvarf means "disappeared" or "haven" in Icelandic. The first five songs, which are the studio recorded songs, are from Hvarf. “Ì gær” is the best track from these five songs. The beginning toys with your emotions. You are torn between curiosity and fear. It opens with what sounds like bells, then leads up to an explosion of distorted guitar and drums. Then the vocals come in, supplanting the chaos with calm.

Another noteworthy song from Hvarf is “Hafsól." The song has a joyous, triumphant sound. At the end, a happy flute demands you skip like a child towards the final 1:14 of the song. A change in mood from relaxed and ambient to energetic joy is what makes this song worth mentioning.

The second half of the album is Heim. In Icelandic that means "home." All of these songs have been previously recorded on another album. One thing listeners will notice is “Starálfur." The original recording on Ágætis Byrjun is a beautiful song. The piano, in sync with the stringed instruments, could bring tears to any person’s eyes.

However, this version is acoustic. There are no bubble sound effects in the beginning, and the vocal harmonies are left out. In this version the focus is strictly on piano, vocals and stringed instruments. Having two different versions of “Starálfur” leaves the world richer.

Hvarf-Heim will give new listeners and idea of what Sigur Rós is all about. Their music transcends language barriers. In fact, not knowing what they’re saying allows the listeners to appreciate the beauty of the music even more.