Heima

So, the other day Sigur Ros released their entire film, “Heima” onto YouTube for everyone’s viewing pleasure. I’m not normally a fan of watching lengthy videos on the tiny piece of shit viewing hole they like to call a media player, but since it was Sigur Ros I decided to give my eyes a challenge and actually watch it.

The film follows Icelandic post-rock band SigurRos through their journey playing unannounced gigs across their homeland, Iceland. Heima itself means “homeland” in Icelandic, and the band did as much as they could to keep this principle. The gigs they played, as I said, were completely unannounced, only relying on the villages to come and listen to them play on their own. Each show is in itself an experience, from playing inside an abandoned fish factory or to playing acoustic at a dam protest, people came from out of nowhere to just, well, listen. From their first time playing out to their last show in Reykjavik, the amount of love that Sigur has for their music and their home is strong felt.

I can’t describe how I feel when I listen to Sigur Ros. The closest I could come is a terrible feeling of loss, and yet an outstanding feeling of hope. Sigur Ros is a band that breaks the mold, playing music because they love it, not because some record executive tells them they need to release a new album. Their work is fine tuned. The thing that gets me most about Sigur Ros is the language. Icelandic is a very, very beautiful happy language, and sung with Jon Birgisson’s high falsetto voice it reaches the level of becoming its own instrument. The best part is that with the combination of the beautiful music and haunting, unrecognizable lyrics, it’s as if they are playing the song just for me.

Whoever may be wasting their time reading this, please go listen to Sigur Ros. Their music is like no other. Have a nice day.