Hvarf-Heim

Friday, November 16, 2007

"Hvarf-Heim" is a twinkling half-live, half-retrospective double EP that stands as companion piece to Sigur Rós' first foray into cinema, "Heima." Part documentary, part concert film, part travelogue, the movie places the quartet in what its Web site calls the "absolute middle-of-nowhereness" of the members' native Iceland. The album, too, carries the same mood of stripped-down reverie, sometimes folky ("Agaetis Byrjun"), sometimes ethereal ("Von"). The five tracks of "Hvarf" ("disappeared") include the previously unreleased ("Salka," "Í Gaer") and the reworked ("Hafsól"), but largely feel bereft and chilly. From the plaintive piano of "Samskeyti" to the soothing "Heysátan," it's the six songs of "Heim" ("home")—which capture the band live in Iceland in 2006 and 2007—that are the strongest and ultimately most warm.—Jessica Letkemann

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