Sigur Ros is a benefit to humanity.
Not a very bold statement or even original one, and maybe I'm just on a high from seeing Heima today.
For whatever reason, as of this moment nobody could talk me down from that.
Here's what I mean.
Sigur Ros makes music for the very reason music was meant to be made. There is no prior knowledge one needs of musical history in order to enjoy the sound these people produce. There is no need to understand even the basics of musical instrumentation or songwriting in order to enjoy these tracks. There is no need to understand the language in which the lyrics are sung. What makes this band so special is that their music transcends all limitations. I don't mean this to sound naive and gushing, I am writing from what I feel when I listen to their music and it is the reason I will continue to listen to their music for as long as I have the ability to hear. When you listen to Sigur Ros (at least when I do) I forget about all of the bullshit that is associated and very much a part of "the industry." All of the things that are what we commonly associate as popular culture and what it takes to be successful within that culture. You forget about the coffee, the assistants, the meetings, the phone calls, the errands, the parties, the handshakes, the scripts, the interviews, the press kits, the publicists, the managers, the executives, grocery shopping, interns. It all disappears and all you are left with, is the music.
I remember that the point of all this is to share a common experience with other people, an experience or a thought or a memory or a moment or a fragment of a memory of a thought. To share that with total strangers and hope that through the darkness and the neurological chain reaction it triggers you find some kind of understanding that helps you feel like you are a part of the world. That's what I think the point of all this is, to connect, to share, and to learn. It seems so simple and some how these four guys and girls from iceland have found to way to do that at a very profound level. And they did it all on their own (with a lot of help I'm sure) from their little country in their little homes based on their little lives. Through all of that they made me appreciate the world and my part in it. A tall order for a band, and I'm sure someone could find fifty ways to call bullshit on me during this post. I can't help it, it's sigur ros. Terence Malick understands it, David Gordon Green understands it, Nathaniel Carota understands it, Explosions in the Sky understand it (a lot of other creative entities do too but I must refrain from acknowledging them right now). We live in a spectaculr, changing, breath taking world and we make our own lives and we do the best we can. Isn't that great?
P.S.
When I say other creative entities, I, of course refer to my family and friends. I could list them here but you guys know who you are. That's pretty great too.
