Valtari

Sigur Rós - Valtari
Critic Score
Based on 37 reviews
2012 Ratings: #371 / 1118
User Score
Based on 514 ratings
2012 Rank: #142
Liked by 62 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The 405

Mirroring Sigur Rós' career as a whole, Valtari flows through a series of peaks and troughs, each as beguiling as the last. 

91
A.V. Club

Sigur Rós delivers a nearly percussion-free batch of ambient soundscapes that may frustrate fans of its more direct predecessor, but ranks among the group’s most elegant records.

80
Drowned in Sound

Valtari might not be a huge digression for the band but that doesn’t matter: this is quietly, entrancingly and thoroughly sublime.

80
The Irish Times

Valtari bridges the gap between contemporary classical and post-rock music quite brilliantly.

80
Uncut
Icelandic elementalists drift deep on long-gestated sixth album.
80
Loud and Quiet
It’s no less evocative of life’s big questions, full of xylophone twinkles and swells of vocals sang in a mixture of Icelandic and the band’s own shrieking language.
80
Slant Magazine

Valtari proves that Inni was more of an unfortunate blip than the sign of impending stagnation.

80
Time Out London
After over 15 years, you have to admire their consistency. This sounds exactly like a Sigur Rós album, and that’s no bad thing whatsoever.
80
American Songwriter

As an album, Valtari might not be the band’s masterwork, but it very well could be their re-birth.

80
DIY
An album that ditches the dramatic and brings in the calm.
80
Consequence of Sound

Valtari is universe music, the type of stuff to fill a cathedral, or maybe a valley.

80
Tiny Mix Tapes

The first half of Valtari, the sixth album by Sigur Rós, is a negotiation with the remnants of the non-album: there remains something, in pieces, of Sigur Rós throughout the first four songs.

80
No Ripcord

Valtari, their long-awaited joint band effort, revolves to realign their focus instead of undergoing any drastic transformation.

80
musicOMH

Valtari is a complex album and time is required for these songs to become truly effective. Once their beauty becomes apparent however, it becomes clear that Valtari is up there with Sigur Rós’ best work. 

80
AllMusic

On the surface, Valtari may seem like a step back for the band, but instead of just retreading the past, the album is one of their best; a refined display of their musical power with breathtaking dynamics and enough emotion to flood an ocean.

79
Beats Per Minute

Just like it’s easy to imagine the band using Valtari‘s original recording sessions to try to out-cotton candy their most recent efforts, it’s equally easy to imagine that, when those sessions turned up nothing worth releasing, Sigur Rós scrapped everything, took their time, avoided cheap thrills and outlandish statements, and submitted a powerfully gentle album; the first sheet of ice covering the lake.

70
Alternative Press

While not a major departure, Valtari adds a fresh, ghostly layer to Sigur Rós’ slow-motion sprawl.

70
The Needle Drop
With its sixth full-length album, Icelandic quartet Sigur Rós changes its sound a bit and heads into much more ambient territory.
70
Clash
Glistening, subliminal and balanced on a falling raindrop.
70
PopMatters

A masterpiece it isn’t, but Valtari is undeniably significant, as this could be the very moment where Sigur Rós have hit the ceiling of their own beauty.

70
Rolling Stone
It’s a layered, gorgeous nothing, lush with nuanced drift and harmonic sweetness.
70
NME

If you’re not a convert to Sigur Rós’ ethereal, wide-eyed majesty, then this probably won’t do anything to change your mind. 

70
SPIN
Post-rock heroes return with another LP of uncanny beauty, a throbbing glob of pop with no discernible center.
67
Pretty Much Amazing
Valtari, the Iceland post-rock vanguards Sigur Ros' first album in nearly four years, is beautiful, lush and understated at the most startling moments.
66
Paste

It draws up comparisons to the band’s best work without really ever coming together as a satisfying, whole piece.

65
Prefix
Beautiful front to back, it’s still an album that never quite asserts itself.
65
Spectrum Culture

Unfortunately, Valtari may induce sleepiness for less transcendent reasons.

61
Pitchfork

Their sixth studio album so flattens and narrows Sigur Rós' aesthetic to the point where the title scans as self-parody. 

60
FACT Magazine

Where do you draw the line between some dizzyingly universal sense of the profound and a tired string of empty platitudes?

60
The Guardian
All too easily, the songs sink into the background – which is a shame, because there is also great beauty here.
60
Mojo
Ekki Mukk is a gossamer-light, if strangely riveting voice in the wilderness, while Varoelder drifts agreeably off into softly chiming waves of yearning desolation. Less stirring are the ambience-flecked, tympani-tickled meanderings that fill out much of the rest of the hour.
60
NOW Magazine

Impeccably produced, Valtari ultimately feels like two diametrically opposed albums.

60
God Is in the TV

Overall ... this is a sweet and beautiful album. Even better, it doesn’t have to be your “thing” to be an enjoyable listening experience. Lovely.

60
Under the Radar

The album is the opposite of its namesake—a lighter-than-air affair that lands with the intensity of a feather. 

60
The Observer
"Valtari" means "steamroller", but no one's in danger of getting flattened by anything approaching Wagnerian blasts. These slow-building, shivery washes of sound are what the band do best, proving worthy of far more listening time than those incidental moments soundtracking nature programmes.
60
Q Magazine

In the past, they have demonstrated the power to leave people flattened: Valtari, however, just falls a little flat.

Pieter
75

Sigur Rós Discography Speedrun #6:
Wow this is so beautiful, tracks like the third and fourth are why I listen to this band, really insanely good songs.
BUT, the rest of the record is pretty boring, though still good. And like Strangelightsyd said, it's still impressive that such a beautiful record is the weakest of their discography.

Mellesteen
95

“So fair, so cold; like a morning of pale spring still clinging to winter's chill.”

This is one of the most underrated albums I've ever come across. It's not disliked per se, mostly just ignored in favour of the band's louder and more daring records. I think this is daring in its own quiet way. Like the quote eludes to, this reminds me intensely of the smell of morning in spring, when the dew would cling to the tall, green grass outside my childhood home. It's incredibly soothing ... read more

PipePanic
93

Who knew It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia would get me into Avant-garde Icelandic ambient rock?

This music is georgeous. It's a blissful, intensly crafted piece of what could be considered 'nee classical'. Each track brings more creativity and passion then the last, with the arrangements, while sounding similer, being so beautiful and graceful that it's almost like your being transported to another world. From the lush intrumentation to the fragile yet powerful vocals, it's trancendence music ... read more

swanslover911
98

This album is very atmospheric and beautiful

81

meows in icelandic

Thalassophoneus
100

Deviating a lot from "post-rock" towards ambient music, Valtari is structured out of many different layers of sound that feel like looking through layers of glass and staring at thousands of reflections. The melodies composed through this orchestration have an amazing ability to touch a particular chord in the human soul that makes you want to cry.

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Track List

1Ég anda
6:15
86
2Ekki múkk
7:44
89
3Varúð
6:37
91
4Rembihnútur
5:05
85
5Dauðalogn
6:37
85
6Varðeldur
6:08
90
7Valtari
8:19
83
8Fjögur píanó
7:50
85
Total Length: 54 minutes

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Added on: March 26, 2012