LISTED: Goosebumps Vol.4 - Sigur Rós' Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása
*Goosebumps is a recurring feature where we highlight on songs that what we perceive to be a complete artistic statement in terms of its melody, lyrics, and to a certain extent, its video clip as well.
We'd really love to write on about something pretty surreal for this entry here but I fear that it might get in the way of you dear readers in trying to properly 'feel' the song because sometimes, as it is more often than not with a good Sigur Rós' song, the meaning is not always implied in anyway by the circumstances that surrounds the artist who is/are singing the song. Like Sigur Rós for example: it is no longer a surprise now, now that the vocalist Jonsi has came out of the closet for so long, so normally our mind would be directed towards his sexual preferences, and further helped by the fact that the video clip for a certain song from one of their albums released in 1999 featured two boys actually making out on a field in the aftermath of a goal-score celebration. Pretty heavy stuff there, but fine; for artistic value perhaps it does have its' merit. We're cool with that. But then on comes the English transliteration of the lyrics to the song and lo and behold...
Before we got our hands on the transliteration of the song "Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása", we could only marvel at the breathtaking beauty of the song and its' other-worldly feel - because it was sung entirely in Icelandic (and thankfully not in the dreaded Hopelandic gibberish), it felt mysterious, alien, majestic, and alienating; and we absolutely loved it. We loved how because none of what was sung does not at all make sense that our imagination are allowed to roam free over what the context of the song could possibly be. A merry band of cherubs floating over clouds in the heaven singing a praise chorus towards Horus? Sure - beats the hell out of it. But then we found this...
I let myself flow onwards,
I swim through my mind back and forth,
my soul still sings the song we once wrote together.
We once had a dream,
we had everything,
we rode to the end of the world,
we rode on searching,
we climbed skyscrapers,
but they were all destroyed
the peace is gone now,
I lack balance, I fall down.
Still, I let myself flow onwards.
I swim through my mind,
but I always come back to the same place,
There is nothing left to say.
This is for the best.
God will provide a day,
for us.
...Tomorrow
The movement of the song is pretty much like a flower bud that is just about to bloom on a crispy Spring morning where the sun is rising over a green hill - it started off pretty slowly, in an almost gloomy mood before a stream of sunlight streaks in inside the darkened room and greet the writer who is slumped on one end of his bed, contemplating the end towards his life, and brought forward such unbridled joy it lifts the writer's spirit and sparked a hopeful smile on his weary face. Then it brings the writer on his feet as he begin to dance... well that was what we were imagining with the lyrics above. The meaning to it probably runs a lot deeper than that but so far, we're pretty comfortable with that. There is that sense of purpose and meaning at the cusp of the climax of the song as Jonsi runs through the e-bow on his guitar, creating that trademark sound so familiar with the Icelandic band, and so similar with the cries of a sperm whale. But the afterthought for the very last line in the song was pretty disconcerting as well when Jonsi sang "God will provide a day / For us / Tomorrow". At first look it seemed all joy and fun and hopeful and everything is going to be alright; but on a second thought, it was pretty damning and suicidal actually - to actually hope for a tomorrow that none of us can ever be so sure of, and to place such hope on God, it might as well be the final word on the suicide note of the writer who is in the darkened room we mentioned just now. And the song ended with string instruments ending in an abrupt discordant cacophony disarray. Dramatic song from start to finish; dramatic climax; dramatic ending; disquieting lyrics - yes, the true meaning of this song is a lot deeper than any of us could probably figure out.
*Goosebumps is a recurring feature where we highlight on songs that what we perceive to be a complete artistic statement in terms of its melody, lyrics, and to a certain extent, its video clip as well.
We'd really love to write on about something pretty surreal for this entry here but I fear that it might get in the way of you dear readers in trying to properly 'feel' the song because sometimes, as it is more often than not with a good Sigur Rós' song, the meaning is not always implied in anyway by the circumstances that surrounds the artist who is/are singing the song. Like Sigur Rós for example: it is no longer a surprise now, now that the vocalist Jonsi has came out of the closet for so long, so normally our mind would be directed towards his sexual preferences, and further helped by the fact that the video clip for a certain song from one of their albums released in 1999 featured two boys actually making out on a field in the aftermath of a goal-score celebration. Pretty heavy stuff there, but fine; for artistic value perhaps it does have its' merit. We're cool with that. But then on comes the English transliteration of the lyrics to the song and lo and behold...
Before we got our hands on the transliteration of the song "Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása", we could only marvel at the breathtaking beauty of the song and its' other-worldly feel - because it was sung entirely in Icelandic (and thankfully not in the dreaded Hopelandic gibberish), it felt mysterious, alien, majestic, and alienating; and we absolutely loved it. We loved how because none of what was sung does not at all make sense that our imagination are allowed to roam free over what the context of the song could possibly be. A merry band of cherubs floating over clouds in the heaven singing a praise chorus towards Horus? Sure - beats the hell out of it. But then we found this...
I let myself flow onwards,
I swim through my mind back and forth,
my soul still sings the song we once wrote together.
We once had a dream,
we had everything,
we rode to the end of the world,
we rode on searching,
we climbed skyscrapers,
but they were all destroyed
the peace is gone now,
I lack balance, I fall down.
Still, I let myself flow onwards.
I swim through my mind,
but I always come back to the same place,
There is nothing left to say.
This is for the best.
God will provide a day,
for us.
...Tomorrow
The movement of the song is pretty much like a flower bud that is just about to bloom on a crispy Spring morning where the sun is rising over a green hill - it started off pretty slowly, in an almost gloomy mood before a stream of sunlight streaks in inside the darkened room and greet the writer who is slumped on one end of his bed, contemplating the end towards his life, and brought forward such unbridled joy it lifts the writer's spirit and sparked a hopeful smile on his weary face. Then it brings the writer on his feet as he begin to dance... well that was what we were imagining with the lyrics above. The meaning to it probably runs a lot deeper than that but so far, we're pretty comfortable with that. There is that sense of purpose and meaning at the cusp of the climax of the song as Jonsi runs through the e-bow on his guitar, creating that trademark sound so familiar with the Icelandic band, and so similar with the cries of a sperm whale. But the afterthought for the very last line in the song was pretty disconcerting as well when Jonsi sang "God will provide a day / For us / Tomorrow". At first look it seemed all joy and fun and hopeful and everything is going to be alright; but on a second thought, it was pretty damning and suicidal actually - to actually hope for a tomorrow that none of us can ever be so sure of, and to place such hope on God, it might as well be the final word on the suicide note of the writer who is in the darkened room we mentioned just now. And the song ended with string instruments ending in an abrupt discordant cacophony disarray. Dramatic song from start to finish; dramatic climax; dramatic ending; disquieting lyrics - yes, the true meaning of this song is a lot deeper than any of us could probably figure out.
Labels: goosebumps, sigur ros
posted by Hafeez at 8:19 AM
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