- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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May 29, 2012Sigur 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.
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May 29, 2012Slippery, shimmery, beautiful songs.
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MagnetJun 19, 2012While no one track jumps out as a single, the entire album is something of a near cubist deconstruction of the band's sound. [No.88 p.60]
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Jun 7, 2012Valtari might not be a huge digression for the band but that doesn't matter: this is quietly, entrancingly and thoroughly sublime.
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Jun 4, 2012Valtari, their long-awaited joint band effort, revolves to realign their focus instead of undergoing any drastic transformation.
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UncutJun 1, 2012A bewitching record. [Jul 2012, p.82]
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May 30, 2012As an album, Valtari might not be the band's masterwork, but it very well could be their re-birth.
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May 30, 2012These are meticulously calculated compositions, each weighty note serving its purpose in the grand arc of the album. This is beautiful.
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May 29, 2012On 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.
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May 29, 2012Teeming with crescendoed melodies, children's choirs, and other symphonic flourishes, the album serves as Sigur Rós's full-fledged reunion with the ethereal sound that made them famous.
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May 25, 2012This is perhaps Sigur Rós' most human-sounding album to date, too. Prepped for intimate nights with loved ones and exhausting journeys back home; it's an album that ditches the dramatic and brings in the calm.
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May 23, 2012In some ways, this is one of their most beautiful releases in a career that has never been short of elegance.
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May 23, 2012Valtari 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.
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Jul 10, 2012With Valtari, the band has returned in some ways to the sounds it made its name with.
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May 29, 2012On Valtari it's back to the essentials: oceanic buildups, flickers of treated orchestras and falsetto vocal lines that yank heartstrings, even though you know exactly when they're coming.
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May 30, 2012It's easily the most cinematic thing they've done since their 2002 masterpiece () (or, "The Brackets Album"), and for those who prefer their earlier stuff this is definitely a solid return to form.
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May 29, 2012It's as if the band's old pure musical sanctuary has been overgrown and started to crumble, with different light and air glinting through the cracks.
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May 29, 2012Valtari might not be Sigur Rós's greatest work, but it is an album of subtle beauty and remarkable restraint that deserves to be heard.
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May 29, 2012Business-as-usual has rarely sounded this beautiful.
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May 29, 2012It's a layered, gorgeous nothing, lush with nuanced drift and harmonic sweetness.
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May 23, 2012While not a major departure, Valtari adds a fresh, ghostly layer to Sigur Rós' slow-motion sprawl.
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May 23, 2012Beautiful front to back, it's still an album that never quite asserts itself.
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May 30, 2012The problem isn't that Valtari aspires to beauty, even if it's a commonplace, celestial understanding of it. Sigur Ros have proven they can make indelible music that's pretty and unpredictable, pretty and melodic, pretty and unnerving, pretty and inspiring. Valtari wants to be pretty and that's it.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 53 out of 63
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Mixed: 8 out of 63
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Negative: 2 out of 63
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May 30, 2012
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May 29, 2012
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May 31, 2012