Review: Sigur Ros

 Iceland’s mysterious, massively beautiful quartet Sigur Ros returned earlier this summer with another breathtaking opus, the energizing “Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust” (“With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly”), which sees the band changing direction a bit, somewhat ditching its well-trodden road of ethereality and glacial soundscapes and charging ahead into pop construction and actual hooks. Does it work? You bet your giddy Icelandic ass it does, and leader Jonsi Birgisson’s voice hasn’t sounded this powerful since “Agaetis Byrjun.” The first four tracks, all notable because of their stunted lengths and rousing temperaments, set the colossal mood, and the album’s centerpiece, a nine-minute jaunt called “Festival” that features four minutes of Jonsi’s angelic voice on vulnerable display, could be the band’s finest epic to date. Live, the band’s always been magnetic and looks to be improving with age. If you haven’t heard “Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust,” get on it, it’s one of the best of the year. (Tom Lynch)

Sigur Ros plays September 24 at Chicago Theatre, 175 North State, (312)263-1138, at 8pm. $36.50.