TAKK...

Continuing their dream pop laced post-rock with classically ethereal and spaced out melancholic rock like no other, SIGUR RÓS released their fourth album TAKK? six years after their breakthrough album "Ágætis byrjun" caught the world's attention with their bizarre mix of ambient art rock set out in a classically tinged post-rock world that was as alien as their native Icelandic topography. Well, fourth album if you're not counting the 2003 documentary soundtrack "Hlemmur" which was limited to the world of electronica with sounds solely created to accompany the visuals. TAKK? (means 'thanks' in Icelandic and other Scandinavian languages) continued the success following "( )" and hit the number one spot on Iceland's album charts and was another international success story as well. As with previous albums the lyrics appear in the invented language Hopelandic a great deal but TAKK? has many tracks in Icelandic as well, however they come across as angelic gibberish all the same sounding like a more classically infused version of the Cocteau Twins at times.

While stylistically TAKK? doesn't deviate significantly from the established overall sound that SIGUR RÓS had latched onto on "Ágætis byrjun" and carried on with "( )," the music has actually become significantly more complex with more extensive uses of time signature changes and complex polyrhythms. And also while previous albums were limited to the four main musicians with four guest musicians appearing on "( )," the band clearly had a larger budget to play with on TAKK? which finds an astonishing sixteen guests providing cellos, violins, violas, trumpets, trombones and additional vocals (even a choir) and percussion. The results of which allow a substantially more lush and full effect sound that allows the many musicians to sound like a complex symphony rather than a more mortal post-rock band from Reykjavík.

TAKK? is yet another tranquil journey into an ethereal sonic journey that incorporates lush ambient passages, placid childlike vocals portraying a possible worldview of innocence and peacefulness along with a sophisticated string and brass section that master the art of note slides and subtle leapfrogging effects. While the music slinks by on simmer for the majority of the album's hour plus run, there are outbursts of climactic rock crescendos that unleash the normally tamped down electric guitars however they don't last long so do not expect the emphasis on TAKK? to be in the rock department. In fact this is much more of an art pop creation that just happens to have rock elements casually strewn about.

In all regards, TAKK? perfectly evolves the band to the next level without sacrificing any of the elements that cast them in a global gaze of admiration however to their credit they took the sound and expanded it in the most logical manner? that being an expansion of the musicians to broaden the sound, a more sophisticated approach in constructing the compositions and utilizing even more catchy pop sensibilities on tinkly piano melodies and polyrhythms. To the untrained ear TAKK? may sound simply like more of the same but for those who have engaged in even a casual classical music appreciation course will be able to pinpoint the differences. TAKK? may not win over any converts who don't have the ear for this most bizarre of sounds but it is certainly a worthy follow-up to a string of exciting albums.