It is about time Sigur Rós came out with a film – the Icelandic import has been scoring non-existent films on each of the band’s four albums since 1997. Each album has been atmospheric, spacious and, above all else, cinematic.
For its first concert DVD, Heima, Sigur Rós has unearthed some old tunes in new forms for the double-disc Hvarf/Heim (translates to “Disappeared” and “Home”). The first half of the album takes discarded songs spanning the band’s career and offers up re-recorded versions. All six songs on disc two, also old material, were recorded live and acoustic during the band’s summer 2006 tour and last spring.
While Hvarf/Heim is not likely to win over the uninitiated, the album proves to be an accurate sampling of the Sigur Rós discography, albeit far from the band’s most compelling work. The rarity appeal should satisfy longtime fans and the second, live disc allows a more intimate, less cluttered glimpse into the band’s layered music.
Heim is a great lesson in musical deconstruction – for better or worse. Musically, the tonal change compromises a lot of the familiar pieces to the Sigur Rós puzzle. The live compositions feel naked and intimate, stripped of their epic studio trimmings. Without the amps and droning guitars, the band loses some of its edge.
The Hvarf version of “Von” takes the title track from the group’s first album and shapes it around the grander live model. When the song appears on Heim sans guitar, it drags on drearily rather than climaxing gracefully as on the superior studio cut. The beauty still manages to come through, as a whispered plea rather than a sweeping blow on the acoustic side.
Both halves of the album have pros and cons. They work together in juxtaposition rather than complement. As a back-to-back listening experience, though, Hvarf/Heim feels exhaustive and not wholly rewarding.
Nowhere on either disc does the band establish anything not already stated on previous albums. For the most part, Heim sounds more like a series of demos rather than reinterpretations. On the Heim version of “Starálfur,” still an achingly lovely song, Sigur Rós fail to go beyond providing a more skeletal rendition. Simply removing the electronics in the room is not sufficient.
We get left with pretty chamber music, something vaguely pleasant to color the background noise – piano, pump organ, strings and wailing voices ad infinitum. Heim lumbers into a status quo. Everything crawls at roughly the same snails pace. And the bad news is, when the band plugs in for Hvarf, the results are only slightly better.
But even when the band cannot seem to find its mainline, Sigur Rós manages a few moments of brilliance. “Í Gær” begins with chimes reminiscent of the Harry Potter theme before exploding into a nightmarish flurry of “Welcome to the Machine”-era Pink Floyd prog-rock. Without overloading the mix, which Sigur Rós has a tendency to do, the band builds layer upon layer of burning sonic madness. There is still enough room for the listener to poke around and explore.
The second half of “Hafsól,” the Hvarf closer, risks excessiveness as it nearly spins out of control in an enthralling display of pomp. By the time the horn section kicks in over the strings and the rock band, the sound explodes in furious passion. Over the top, sure, but the song is a shot to the heart compared to the lull displayed elsewhere on the album.
Immediately, the album opener “Salka” draws on the sleepy dreamscapes Sigur Rós typically plays in, however with notably less gusto. An outtake from the ( ) album, the song got passed over for good reasons, as the song’s seven minutes of melancholy take listeners nowhere. “Hljómalind” never reaches beyond sounding nice, a detestable adjective for any piece of rock music.
Sigur Rós has always been too spacey for its own good, with an emphasis on mood, not substance. The language barrier definitely creates a distancing effect, but there was undeniable genius behind Ágætis Byrjun and Takk….
Had Hvarf/Heim been released as a true rarities compilation, it might have been easier to dismiss the flaws. But Sigur Rós devoted the time to recreating an album’s worth of lesser songs and sluggish live takes. Neither side of the album does great service or disservice to the band’s reputation in or out of the studio. Unfortunately, Hvarf/Heim plays to the middle.
zherrm@umd.edu
RATING: 3 stars out of 5
