Review: Sugur Rós – Von

There’s this band from Iceland. No, not the Sugarcubes. The other band, Sigur Rós—perhaps you’ve heard of them? Well, this is their first album that up until this point hasn’t been officially available in America. It sounds like a nightmare, a rolling psychotic grind into the sparseness of darkness and then it sounds like warm water and a summer breeze. Von is beautiful and different from what you’re more accustomed to. Waves of distorted guitars, the pounding of drums and vocals that come from every angle; it’s far closer to a My Bloody Valentine record than anything they’ve done before. Von just might be their sharpest work thus far. If it weren’t so late, I’d turn it up until the walls shook. Brilliant.