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Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook
United Palace
New York City, NY
9/18/08
Sigur Ros has always been a band I have been meaning to give their due but haven’t, probably in large part due to their vocals being sung in Icelandic. I have never been one for instrumental music or music sung in unfamiliar languages – I can only think of Manu Chao and Cesaria Evora as exceptions. Thanks to a timely ‘heads-up’ from SoDakian operative Tboogie, I made a point of catching them when they recently surfaced at the very sold-out show at the United Palace – this huge baroquely detailed theater deep in Harlem. They have also recently played other visually dramatic venues like the sculpture garden at the MOMA and with the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop at Red Rocks so I suspect they studiously choose their venues so the overall affect leans more to a complete otherworldly experience rather than a mundane rock show. The minor-key orchestration with swirling vocals reminded me of the vibe I get while seeing one of my favorite live bands, Mercury Rev. This video is an uncharacteristically upbeat end-of-set track and involved bringing in the opening band to act as a drum corp.
Update: Thanks to Hayley for providing the track name.
Download: Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook (Live Video)
The song is from their brand new album með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust and it’s called gobbledigook 🙂