Pitchfork

Early last year, Sigur Rós announced that they were writing and recording the score for an Icelandic documentary titled Hlemmur. The film, which documents the inhabitants of Reykjavic's central bus station, located in the city's most desolate area, was directed by the acclaimed documentarist Olafur Sveinsson, and made its rounds in the country's film festivals throughout 2002. And now the band has released a full-length CD of the instrumentals they recorded to accompany the film's bleak images of homelessness, addiction, misery, and despair.

n The record, which has already found its way onto file-trading services, features 19 tracks-- but in an unexpected break from standard Sigur Rós protocol, the band forgoes their epic jams here for shorter pieces ranging in length from 34 seconds to 4\xBD minutes. In fact, the total runtime for this release is just shy of 36 minutes. The music itself, while bearing many distinct signatures of the Sigur Rós sound, is much more experimental than any of their previous three full-length endeavors, jumping from highly melodic, pastoral IDM tracks reminiscent of the Icelandic electronic trio Múm, to aquatic ambient drones, to ominous, organ-fueled sambas, to whale-call solo guitar pieces. The packaging, meanwhile, consists primarily of beautiful stills (of, perhaps ironically, not-so-beautiful people) from the film, along with maps of the Icelandic public transit system. A ripped and soiled train ticket graces the cover.

n The Hlemmur soundtrack won't be seeing wide distribution until later this year when it's officially issued on Fat Cat. However, the band has opted to make self-released versions available exclusively at the merch tables of their three-month tour of Europe, the U.S. and Japan, which kicked off in Glasgow, Scotland last Tuesday. As previously reported by Pitchfork, the band will swing through Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal before finally reaching the States for a 18-date jaunt through every major metropolis... except Chicago. :( Dates:

n 02-19 Copenhagen, Denmark - Falconer Salen
02-20 Berlin, Germany - Arena
02-21 Munich, Germany - Herkulesaal
02-23 Mainz, Germany - Phonixhalle
02-24 Lyon, France - Auditorium Maurice Ravel
02-25 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
02-27 Madrid, Spain - La Riviera
02-28 Oporto, Portugal - Coliseu do Porto
03-01 Lisbon, Portugal - Coliseu dos Recreios
03-15 Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center
03-16 Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center
03-18 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
03-19 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
03-21 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall
03-22 Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theatre
03-23 Cleveland, OH - The Odeon
03-25 Pittsburgh, PA - Byham Theater
03-26 Louisville, KY - Brown Theatre
03-27 Atlanta, GA - The Tabernacle
03-29 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
03-31 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre
04-01 Austin, TX - Austin Music Hall
04-02 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre
04-04 Tempe, AZ - Nita's Hideaway
04-05 Las Vegas, NV - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
04-07 Los Angeles, CA - Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
04-08 Oakland, CA - Paramount Theatre
04-14 Tokyo, Japan - International Forum Hall
04-15 Tokyo, Japan - International Forum Hall
04-16 Osaka, Japan - Mielparque Hall

n Sigur Rós has reportedly been surprising showgoers with new material on this tour so far, including songs tentatively titled (!) "Gítardjamm" and "Göng", the latter of which is said to include electronic beats. The band has also been unexpectedly launching into Agaetis Byrjun's "Starálfur", which they have never performed live before this tour. The melodic ambient band The Album Leaf is opening all dates.

n In other Sigur Rós news, the band has completed the recording and mixing of their single "Untitled #1" (aka "Vaka"), their first in support of their third full-length, ( ). The disc will contain a couple of B-sides, which is actually just one really long song with track separations. The song apparantly came into existance as a remix of "Untitled #1", but as the band worked on it, it eventually became an entirely new song. It is as yet unclear whether this song will be titled. The single will be released worldwide in April in both CD and DVD editions, the latter of which will include three of the band's videos: "Svefn-G-Englar", "Viðrar vel til Loftárása", and "Untitled #1". In the meantime, you can catch the video on MTV between re-runs of Clone High (already!) and Aveda commercials.

n .: Pitchfork Review: Sigur Rós: ( )
.: Sigur Rós: http://www.sigur-ros.com
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