Sigur Rós: ( ) (2LP, 20th anniversary remaster, smoky black translucent vinyl, indie exclusive) [KRUNK]

Why you'll love it

This 20th anniversary edition is newly remastered and pressed on heavyweight smoky black translucent vinyl, in a die-cut outer sleeve. Its opening track, "Untitled #1," became the album's one single, known to fans as Vaka.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remastered
• 20th anniversary edition
• Smoky black translucent vinyl
• 180g vinyl
• Die-cut outer sleeve
• Indie exclusive

About the album

Most bands at least give you a song title to hum along to. On their third album Sigur Rós gave the record two brackets for a name, left the tracks untitled and sang in a language of their own. Jón Þór Birgisson's Vonlenska (Hopelandic in English) is an invented tongue built for sound rather than meaning, so the listener gets to supply the story. It arrived in 2002, three years after Ágætis byrjun had made them international names, and it rewards patience beautifully.

The eight pieces fall into two halves, separated by 36 seconds of silence. The first half is lighter and more open, with "Untitled #1" and "Untitled #3" built on slow-blooming keyboard melodies, and the second grows darker and heavier on the way to the long, cathartic surge of "Untitled #8." It's the first Sigur Rós album with drummer Orri Páll Dýrason, alongside Jón Þór, bassist Georg Hólm and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson.

The band themselves call it Svigaplatan, the Bracket Album, which is about as close as they come to small talk. It still works best with the lights low and the phone in another room.

Also at Kops: more Sigur Rós on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Krúnk (cat# KRUNK79CLP), a reissue of the 2002 album.