I remember I was 13 years old and I was going on my a vacation/track and field competition in Sweden one summer with my family. At the time I always carried a walkman around with me and before we went on the plane in Iceland I bought or got my mom to buy me this CD Agætis Byrjun by Sigur Rós.
I had heard about this band before but never really given it my full attention. It was the first time that I ever went outside of the country so I was pretty nervous and excited at the same time. We rented a car when we came to Sweden and drove around everywhere went, we for example drove from Sweden to Denmark to meet my brother who lived there and I remember listening to nothing other then this CD in the car. I must have played it like 20 times through or something and it somehow fit so well with the surroundings. It made the nature and landscapes that we drove past mean so much more then it would have meant without the music. I thought the atmosphere of the music was so powerful and it at times made me feel so small.
Every time I hear a song from this album today it takes me back to being 13 in the backseat of that car looking out the window. I think at the time it was something that struck a chord in me that had never been struck before and it influenced me a lot in the years to come. My favorite song on the album must be a song called Flugufrelsarinn and still today it always gives me goosebumps when I listen to it. It takes you to another planet. This is a masterpiece of an album, in my opinion, and will probably always stand the test of time. I think it has the power to speak to people today just as well as it did when it was released. In these times, everyone has to stand together and think about how we are affecting the earth and nature. Music like this gives you a better way of seeing that we are one with the planet and that that we should be taking care of it in such a way.
Ásgeir’s record Bury The Moon is out on February 7th via Embassy of Music.