Atmosphere’s the name of the game on this lush, 12-song outing, recorded over the course of two years with a healthy dose of reverb and what sounds like a half-dozen different guitar effects pedals.
Birgir Hilmarsson, who handles most the performing duties in the Icelandic group, has a clear knack for writing meditative and densely layered compositions — the kind of Sigur Ros-influenced fare that floats in front of your face like ribbons of smoke.
Even when anchored by percussion or carefully placed bits of static, the songs always feel like they’re ready to evaporate without warning into thin air.
That said, the record’s finest moments may be the tracks without lyrics, where Hilmarsson lets a somber palette of guitar, bass, drums and synth speak for itself. It’s here where the disc hits its stride and reaches its shoe-gazing best, though much of the material is so airy it may fail to stay glued in your mind after the disc stops spinning. – Punk Planet, March/April 2006
