Sigur Rós: ( ) (2LP) [KRUNK]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set is on 180g vinyl in a jacket with the brackets die-cut through it. The album's eight untitled tracks are split by a 36-second silence, and the first of them, known to the band as Vaka, became its single.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Die-cut jacket

About the album

Some bands name every song carefully. Sigur Rós named none of these, and gave the album two brackets instead of a title. The band themselves call it Svigaplatan, the bracket album, and every word is sung in Vonlenska, the made-up tongue Jón Þór Birgisson had been working towards for years. The idea is that you fill the gaps yourself. It was their third studio album, the follow-up to Ágætis Byrjun, and the first with drummer Orri Páll Dýrason.

The first half is the light side: hushed piano, slow-blooming guitar and the band's own working titles (Vaka, after Orri's daughter; Fyrsta, the first song; Samskeyti, attachment) give it a gentle warmth. After the silence it turns heavier, through Álafoss, named after their studio, to the long Popplagið, the pop song, which builds to one of the great climaxes in their catalogue.

Many listeners treat it as their favourite Sigur Rós record, the one to put on in the dark. The title is two brackets, which makes it the easiest album in the shop to spell and the hardest to ask for at the counter.

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

Tracklist

Listen

On Krúnk (cat# krunk10lp), a reissue of the 2002 album.