Sigur Ros - 'Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do' (EMI)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
How do you get more pretentious than releasing an album with no titles sung entirely in a language you invented yourselves? Like this.
You release a 20-minute piece, divided in to three 'movements' ('Ba Ba', 'Ti Ki' and yes, 'Di Do') designed to soundtrack a dance performance choreographed by Merce Cunningham which is based entirely around the sound of a child's music-box and uses only tap-dancers and their foot garments for occasional percussion. Bloody hell, this is going to be a tough one.
Except Sigur Ros are one of the few acts in the world today who can be this innovating/bonkers and still sound utterly, utterly glorious. Part of the essence of this project was that the band themselves wouldn't particularly know what was coming next, and whilst in less capable hands it could have sounded like a haphazard dirge, this lot make it soar. The genius of it is that it can strike fear or comfort into the heart depending on what state of mind the listener is in - you're somehow interacting in the organic nature of it without any prior warning.
There's little separating the movements from each other (they work brilliantly as a whole), but 'Ba Ba' is probably in possession of the most structure, 'Ti Ki' squeaks and bleats with quiet electricity and 'Di Do' repeats at random the nonsense sounds that make up the record's title to unsettlingly brilliant effect. It's the height of getting conceitedness right, and sounds like nothing else on earth.
Artists in this article: Sigur Ros
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