Before the 2000s, post-rock music was virtually unknown to anyone other than serious music geeks. Sigur Ros changed that when their second album, Agaetis byrjun, was released internationally at the beginning of the decade. It was the first almost anybody outside of Iceland had heard of the band, and in the history of first impressions, it was a landmark moment.
Sigur Ros sounded like nothing that had come before. Stark, mysterious, eerie and achingly beautiful, Agaetis byrjun converted legions of fans all over the world, almost all of whom had no idea what any of the songs were about (or even how to pronounce their titles). Listening to tracks like ""Svefn-g-englar"" and ""Staralfur,"" it's hard to think of what a working knowledge of Icelandic could really add. With angelic vocals, huge echoing spaces and strings that alternatingly freeze or melt the heart, it's the most expressive music of the decade.
The band deepened their mystique on ( ). In addition to the album's awkwardly enigmatic title, its songs (all of which are officially untitled) are sung in the gibberish language Voslenska. The album is also incredibly melancholy, taking the lonely, drifting sounds from Agaetis byrjun and magnifying the effect.
Sigur Ros brightened up considerably in the second half of the decade with Takk... and Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust, a pair of albums that sound positively giddy compared to their early records, but their trademark approach—from which countless other artists have since taken notes—will always be the stark, glacial beauty of a song like ""Olsen, Olsen""—goose bumps every time.
