Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun

Sigur Rós - Agaetis Byrjun
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Ágætis byrjun (An Alright Start) is the third album by Icelandic band Sigur Rós, released in 1999. Ágætis byrjun was recorded between the summer of 1998 to the spring of 1999 with producer Ken Thomas, and became Sigur Rós' breakthrough album, both critically and commercially. Ágætis byrjun represented a substantial departure from the band's previous album Von, with that album's Cocteau Twins-esque dream pop and extended ambient soundscapes replaced by Jónsi Birgisson's now signature cello-bowed guitarwork and lush orchestration (using a double string octet amongst other orchestral elements).

While released to little fanfare, the album quickly gained radio exposure in Iceland, and spent the autumn of 1999 climbing the Icelandic album charts, finally resting at the top of the charts for a number of weeks. After surprising success in Iceland, the album subsequently gained strong international buzz with numerous articles in many prominent publications, hype from internet message boards and blogs, as well as often exuberant critical praise. Ágætis byrjun was released in the United Kingdom in 2000, and in the North American market in 2001 by FatCat Records. In 2001, Ágætis byrjun won the inaugural Shortlist Music Prize, awarded to the best album that has sold under 500,000 copies in the United States during the previous year, by a panelist of noted musicians and tastemakers.

The ten songs on the album include some self-reference: the introduction contains backmasked parts from the title track, and the last song, "Avalon", consists of an instrumental passage from "Starálfur" slowed down four times. An acclaimed music video was made for Viðrar vel til loftárása. Their music has also been featured in soundtracks, "Starálfur" was featured in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Vanilla Sky among others.

The image on the cover of Ágætis byrjun was drawn by Gotti Bernhöft.

Every track is sung in Icelandic except for "Olsen Olsen" which is sung in the nonsense language Hopelandic that was used exclusively in Sigur Rós's follow up ( ).



Tracklist
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1. "Intro"
2. "Svefn-g-englar" [Sleepwalkers]
3. "Starálfur" [Staring Elf]
4. "Flugufrelsarinn" [The Fly's Saviour]
5. "Ný batterí" [New Batteries]
6. "Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm)" [The Heart Pounds (Boom Boom Boom)]
7. "Viðrar vel til loftárása" [Good Weather for Airstrikes]
8. "Olsen Olsen"
9. "Ágætis byrjun" [An Alright Start]
10. "Avalon"


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