AGETIS BYRJUN - A GOOD BEGINNING

This stately Iceland rock outfit took the alternative-music world by storm with its second album, AGAETIS BYRJUN--a haunting, eloquent, 76-minute instant classic. Frontman Jon Por Birgisson sings in a language he calls "Hopelandic" (a combination of Icelandic and his own angelic calling), over the lyrical ebb and flow of feedback-drenched guitar, gushing keyboards, gently driving bass, and drums that crash like the surf of an alien ocean. After a droning beginning, the curtains suddenly part with "Svefn-G-Englar," revealing a sound as wide open and exhilarating as Iceland's landscape. Later, the mournful violin and slowly cascading beats of "Flugufrelsarinn" give way to ghostly horn sections, orchestral crescendos, stretches of silence, crashing dissonance, sad piano lines, and a Radiohead-esque dip into the realm of rock on "Olsen Olsen." The breathtaking scope and emotional richness of this outing turned Sigur Ros into an overnight success. Within a year of AGAETIS BYRJUN's release on the small British label Fatcat Records, the band went from obscurity to selling out major venues, scoring films, and signing with MCA, who re-released the album to even wider acclaim.