Closing Out The Decade:
Sigur Ros - Takk... (2005)

I wrested with the idea of coming up with a list for the AGP's favorite releases of the last 10 years. After some serious back and forth, I made the decision that the last thing we need is another list. Instead we will feature some of the albums that have made a lasting impact on us. These are the albums that we told our friends to buy, annoyed our spouses with, and ultimately inspired us to launch this blog.

From now until the end of December The AGP will feature our favorite albums of the decade. Each week we will feature posts highlighting our favorite albums of the 00's. We will even have a few contributions from the AGP's extended family. We invite your comments, we want to know why you agree with us or perhaps why you think we're off our collective rockers.

We hope you'll join us as we take a look back at the albums that shaped the past 3,653 days our lives.
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Recorded at the bands Sundlaugin studio near Alafoss, Iceland with Ken Thomas co- producing the recording sessions with the band. Sigur Ros released their fourth full length on September 12th 2005 through Geffen/EMI. After the superb ( ) album I was unsure where the band could go next. With the release of Takk... the band answered the challenge by adding to their already impressive catalog with arguably their finest record to date. Combining some of the bombast of
( ) with the intricate beauty of Agaetis byrjun and delving headlong into pop structures with songs you actually could sing along to, after carefully deciphering Jonsi's lyrics.

Don't get me wrong the songs on Takk... are slow building epics that fall within the six or seven minute mark, but there is a quiet confidence that the band conveys on Takk... that seemed absent on their earlier releases. As a result this album is a bit more welcoming than it's predecessors, but no less stunning. With their fourth album Sigur Ros proved once again and maybe like never before that they are as gifted as they are unconventional.

I was already drinking their Icelandic Kool Aid by the time Takk... burrowed it's way into my brain in 2005 and the friends that I hadn't converted with their previous output were about to stop taking my calls and e-mails or they would succumb to the magnificence of Takk. Luckily for all involved it wasn't hard to hear what I was going on and on about once they gave Takk... the attention it deserved. The word masterpiece gets tossed around pretty freely these days but this record meets the criteria on every level.

Buy the album at Amazon