every so often, a band comes along that the english music press describes as "the sound of god weeping tears of gold in heaven." such bands usually hail from belgium or, at least, chicago. and very often these bands end up sounding like the cocteau twins played at the wrong speed. badly.

ah, but not this time. sigur ros are a quartet from iceland who make beautiful, beautiful music. the music is so glacial, expansive, dramatic and heartbreaking that it sort of does sound like god weeping tears of gold in heaven. or at least like god weeping tears of gold in iceland (a very different sound than god weeping tears of gold because he's in iceland). their music is sweeping and sort-of instrumental. the truly unique thing about them is the voice of lead singer/guitarist jónsi. his piercing falsetto, which keens oddly in a mix of icelandic and english, sounds like that of a 12 year old girl encased in permafrost. chart-toppers in reykjavik, sigur rós are only now getting a release in england with the single, "svefn-g-englar" on fat cat records, with their most recent album coming out there in early 2000. check out their website at www.sigur-ros.com, where they say things like this: "we are not a band, we are music. we do not intend to become superstars or millionaires, we are simply gonna change music forever, and the way people think about music. and don't think we can't do it, we will." why not? so take a listen. and learn what it sounds like to be wept on by god. if you believe in that sort of thing, of course.

(andy greenwald)

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