August 2018 bank holiday weekend. Bit of a personal low point. Got absolutely shitfaced at Notting Hill Carnival, ended up heading to Acton in an almost vegetative state (which is the complete opposite direction of where I needed to go), somehow ordered an Uber with the remaining amount of battery on my phone, fell asleep in the front seat while my phone dropped out of my pocket, and when I woke up at the end of the journey I had no idea where it had went. For about two weeks that phone was in that Uber vehicle. I did get it back luckily, but because I thought it was long gone I had already bought a new one. I went straight back to work on the Tuesday, still feeling like absolute garbage, but luckily the office was a studio where no one really checked what you did. For a reason that I honestly can’t remember now, I decided to listen to Sigur Rós’ 1999 record, Ágætis byrjun, on Spotify. Though I didn’t have any idea what lead singer Jónsi Birgirsson was singing, the music within worked as the greatest hangover soundtrack.

The performances throughout the album sound truly expansive and enveloping in scope, and in the middle of all of them comes Jónsi’s angelic falsetto that brings a comforting tone to the proceedings. ‘Olsen Olsen’ is a prime example of this dynamic. It’s a track that slowly builds, introducing new elements as the track progresses before arriving to a almighty rousing finish. The journey to that climactic ending is well worth it though. Tempo-setting strikes on the ride cymbal are joined by the kick and snare drums. A hypnotizing bass riff then comes in, one that repeats its plucking pattern almost throughout, which is very much the melodic centerpoint of the entire composition. Jónsi and his cello-bowed guitar join the frame, though the latter doesn’t have as much of a presence here than in other songs on the album. A focus is put more on the double-tracked vocal of Jónsi, placed in the left and right channels, who sings in the gibberish language of Volenska. A shift in the melody of the bass occurs around two minutes in, lifting the track ever so slightly, until it all gives way to the introduction of a jaunty flute. Rinse and repeat that paragraph, add a triumphant piano and ‘gang’ vocals and you’ve got yourself eight minutes of some beautiful stuff. That time goes quick though, truly.

Thinking about it now, I think this track was the reason I chose to listen to Ágætis… on that day. A video of the band performing it live, from their 2006 DVD Heima, appeared on the side of another video I was watching on YouTube. It’ll be embedded below. This video had millions of views; it had to be good, surely. And it was. It’s one of those performances where I actually wasn’t sure if it was live, or just a music video where the album audio was being played over the top. It soon became clear that it was the former. Much like the audience in that video, I don’t think I did anything much but pay my full attention to it. Mostly because the music was good, but also likely because I didn’t have the energy to put anything into the work I was meant to be doing. It was a strange time made much better by the discovery of some fantastic music.