The Worship-Ness of Sigur Ros

This sounds crazy. But a lot of today's most creative Christian rock bands, bands that have a real feel for wonder and worship in their music--like The Listening, Future of Forestry, or Leeland--wouldn't be making the kind of music they do if it weren't for Sigur Ros' example.

OK, obviously Jonsi Birgisson's sexuality--and his occasional pagan references--won't win the band evangelical fans off the bat. And their during recent "worst interview ever" with NPR's Luke Burbank, they didn't come off as charismatic and quotable as, say, Bono. Or even Harpo Marx. But Sigur Ros, whose new album "Hvarf/Heim" is a re-recorded collection of some of their best work over the last decade or so, has done a few things that have gotten Christians excited about their music for the right reasons.

Most obvious is the overwhelming sense of awe that comes from Sigur Ros' music. "The world is charged with the grandeur of God," Gerard Manley Hopkins once wrote, and compositions like "I Gaer," are charged with that same grandeur. Starting with a modest glockenspiel melody, the song suddenly cracks open like a raging electrical storm, a billowing frenzy of guitars and drums. The band is joined on many tracks by the Icelandic string quartet Amiina, and together, the musicians build songs that can only be described with breathless hyperbole and metaphor: angels dancing, birds soaring above clouds, flyover shots of glaciers. There's such a hugeness to this music--the melodies are clearly in service of something more than entertainment or selling CDs.

Also, Sigur Ros understands how to create space for listeners to experience songs. This is true both because of the long moments of profound stillness in their music, and the openness with which their lyrics can be interpreted. While many of Birgisson's lyrics are in Icelandic, some are also in a wordless vocal style he once called "Volenska" (usually translated as "Hopelandish"). There's been a lot of unnecessary media hype about this "language," but perhaps it's close to what Paul had in mind when he wrote of "groans too deep for words." The lyrics to "Vaka" sound like this:

ee-sai-a-lo, ee-so

ee-saw-ee-slow, ee-so ...

you-shy-naw-no-ee-oh

What does that mean, exactly? Nothing, or maybe everything. "You saw the light?" "He saw you low?" "You shine on us?" Or something entirely different? Combine these vocals with the band's aptitude for epic, reverent, hymn-like songs, and it seems Sigur Ros has given us a language for worship, a kind of less-spooky speaking in tongues

Hvarf/Heim, or, for that matter, the band's last two albums, ( ) and Takk, are utterly burn-worthy. Listen, and before long, you'll be singing along in your own language.

--Joel Hartse