Thursday 12 June 2008

With A Buzz In Our Ears We Play Endlessly

"Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust", the latest album from Sigur Rós, will be released later this month. If you want to hear it now, the entire album is available for streaming from online radio station last.fm.

I've only listened to it a couple of times so far, but my intitial reaction was that it sounds like a natural progression from "Takk" but maybe a little more poppy. Obviously I use that word loosely, but it's definitely more accessible than earlier releases such as "Von" and "Ágætis Byrjun". I may well write about it in more detail once it's released... which brings me to my dilemma. The band's official website has a pre-order option for a "deluxe edition", costing £60, which is packaged in a hardback book of photographs (probably similar to the packaging of last year's "Heima" DVD) and contains a bonus DVD. This won't be available until late September, about three months after the regular version is released. So the main question is whether I can wait that long. Plus I have already bought several expensive limited edition releases in the past six months or so (Radiohead, Coil and the Current 93 subscribers' editon that I have paid for but won't be released until the end of the year), therefore I'm also wondering if I can justify forking out £60 for something else.

I know that there are Sigur Rós fans who will be reading this and that most of you bought the expensive vinyl edition of the last Radiohead album, so I'd be interested to hear if anyone plans to buy this one.

2 comments:

Biluś said...

Hey - thanks for the heads-up on the album stream. Listening now, and it's certainly a change from the previous (rather wonderful) soundscapes. Agree with 'poppy', but in the nicest sense of that word!

:-)

bogl said...

I do think that there is something odd about making special editions available after the standard edition. It almost seems to be testing the rabid fan to the limit whilst waiting, or alternatively forcing them to buy the thing twice.

Having said this, I have just ordered the latest Bonzos album in double vinyl and with free T-shirt. The standard release has been out for months, and the vinyl will be out in Sept.

£60 is pretty steep. Much as I like Sigur Ros, I think I will give this a miss.