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| photo by p.dunkley |
Quite Deliberate
How have I not heard of Sigur Ros until now? It seems that
their sound had just passed me by. But in a way, I am glad to have not heard
them until my musical taste had matured enough to handle their complexity.
Sigur Ros is an Icelandic ambient rock band. I could just
stop there and be intrigued. But I go on… Their new age
classical sound incorporates
the use of a bowed guitar, a glockenspiel, a toy piano, an oboe, a
full horn section, a banjo, a bass, organs, percussions, and sound samples. Again I could stop here. But I go on… They are
also known for Jonsi Birgisson’s falsetto vocals. Stop.
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| photo by p.dunkley |
But I go on. They go beyond the sound. Combined with each
song is a deliberate visual “effect.” For the first few songs, a sheet of
taffeta-like cloth, that I was later told is called a scrim (thank you
informative stranger), hung in front of the band at the front of the stage.
Along the back of the scrim images were projected, allowing the band to create
larger than life shadows.
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| photo by p. dunkley |
Once the scrim fell, the audience was able to get a sharper
picture of the atmosphere and affect Sigur Ros was purposefully creating. In a
way, it was quite nice to let the music and images unfold not knowing or suspecting
what would be next. Being unfamiliar with the music allowed it to just create
itself for me for the very first time in the deliberate manner they were so skillful
at crafting. Every move was for an affect. Every pause for a purpose. It was
quite lovely.
This was only the second show of the 2013 Santa Barbara Bowl
season, but it was possibly the best SB will see this year. And perhaps that
was also quite deliberate.