I really am a morning person, and I love the varied nuances of the early morning hours. These precious early hours all have different flavors, more easily discerned before the cacophony of the day wakes and crowds in to obliterate those subtle smells, sights, scents, and sounds. They refuel me in ways that a more temporal breakfast cannot, though are every bit as solid and real.
I thought, at first, that the iPod was being lazy again this morning, tossing me two Sigur Rós tracks back to back, then three in a row. After I got in I realized it was still set on my Sigur Rós playlist from yesterday. So, my bad. But it's also all good. I frequently dial that playlist up in the office, when I'm writing, wrangling a spreadsheet, or doing other concentration work. Their music took me through my Masters program research and writing too. It's rich, atmospheric, often intense, and the vocals are almost always in Icelandic or Hopelandish, neither of which distract me because I don't understand either (nobody "understands" the latter, since it is a contrived language which resembles the phonology of the Icelandic language). Pitchfork said of Sigur Rós, when they ranked the album Agaetis Byrjun #6 in their list of 100 Best Albums of 2000-2004, "Sigur Ros effortlessly make music that is massive, glacial and sparse. They are Hidden People. Children will be conceived, wrists will be slashed, scars will be healed, and tears will be wrenched by this group."
The first track this morning comes from their 2002 album ( ). That's not a typo or missing word, the title of the album really is just a space bookended by two parentheses. The songs are all titled, simply, Track 1, Track 2, etc.. The second track is from the later album Takk... (which means Thanks) and the song's title (Svo Hljótt) means "So Silent." It seems a very fitting track for today's ambience.
The full playlist:
- Sigur Rós: Track 3
- Sigur Rós: Svo Hljótt
- Sigur Rós: Starálfur (Live)
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