#365songs (56 / 365)

I think there are "better" "songs" on Sigur Rós's extremely-good-but-also-bordering-on-self-parody album ( ), but this is the one that I looked forward to when I was really into this album. The "better" songs: "Untitled #8 (Popplagið)" ("Pop song") which is extremely not a pop song but is basically the only time ( ) demonstrates even a little bit of oomph; "Untitled #4 (Njósnavélin)" which is structurally probably the nearest thing to an actual pop song and has ( )'s most distinctive vocal melody.

"Untitled #3," on the other hand, is very nearly ambient music, with a piano melody so pretty I don't mind hearing it repeat for like 5 minutes and enough of a slow, classically Sigur Rós build in the supporting instrumentation that it feels incredibly epic and moving when that piano melody — wait for it — goes up an octave. It's the song where this very wistful and placid album is at its most wistful and placid: distilled down to its essential components, even to the point of excluding Jónsi's voice entirely.