Cover Story
Sigur Ros
Deconstructing The Band
By Ryan Reed
Sigur Rós’ sixth studio album, Valtari, closes with eight minutes of crawling, pointillistic ambience called “Fjögur píanó” (translated in English to “Four Pianos”), a track built almost entirely on four gorgeous piano lines that trickle like waterfalls—one part played by each member of the band. It wraps up Valtari (“Roller” or “Steamroller”) with a moment of reflective calm, notes twinkling and decaying in jagged harmony.
Slow-motion soundscapes are nothing new to the critically-adored Icelandic quartet, who perfected the art of extended, dream-like suites on 1999’s Ágætis byrjun and its polarizing,...