Sigur Rós [live]

A couple of Wednesdays ago, I went to Chicago, and decided I wanted to build an enormous baroque opera house. And I saw Sigur Rós. I stayed awake for the openers, Parachute (who sounded remarkably like a happier, cleaner American Sigur Ros)but there was a long intermission and the week started taking its toll, so I was only completely awake for the set opener and the closer, meaning that I can really be fair to just those songs. Here goes:

Svefn-G-Englar is fucking interminable.

Goobledigook was transcendent.

In between those two bookends, i caught up on some sleep. I wish it had turned out differently, because I do love me some Sigur Ros. But I think since they were my go-to fall-asleep band when I was worried that with one more listen, 'The Trapeze Swinger' might wear out its welcome -250+ listens later, still hasn't happened, which is something like 40 hours of my life...ok let's not overthink that- my little reptile brain decided it was naptime. Which is too bad, because they're more than an indie kid's Sounds of the Ocean (Complete With Real Whale Calls!) They're a Saturday night band, but not that kind of Saturday night. More like when everybody has left and you're moping around the room, reading, or putting together some postcards. When its dark and so you turn on all the lights but it still seems too dark, so you put Sigur Rós on and things are a little bit better. Its amazing that i was falling asleep with that much noise- it could be pretty damn abrasive, more so than any album work I've heard- but its a testament to them how they can make it beautiful AND brutal. It was like i was getting bludgeoned to sleep by the benevolent god of Nyquil. (Yeah, just like that). In every level between wake and sleep they was great, just like it was on all those nights that would have been a little tougher without them.

Rating: N/A due to me being a sleepyhead.

post script
So it was lucky to find a real review of the Chicago concert (linked above). And in semi-related news, on the Radiohead [live] post I just linked a cokemachineglow article about the very same St. Louis show confirming my seeming hyperbole as fact. You can trust those guys cuz they're way sadder and more critical than you are. And by induction you can trust me too.