written, produced and performed by sigur rós
engineered, mixed and co-produced by kenneth vaughan thomas
assistant engineering by marco migliari
strings and arrangements by amina
mastered by mandy at the exchange
recorded at sundlaugin
artwork by sigur rós, alex t. and d.c.

about the album

( ) comprises eight untitled songs which sigur rós have been playing at concerts in the past 2-3 years. a 30 second period of silence divides the 71 minute album in two halves, each half containing four tracks. the first half is light and optimistic while the second half is bleaker and more melancholic, "plays more with your emotions", as jónsi worded it. there is some experimentation of instruments in the first half of the album, with some sampling of jónsi's voice and more emphasis on keyboard than guitar (drummer orri plays keyboard on tracks 1 and 3). there is more of the typical guitar, bass and drums line-up on the second half, jónsi bowing guitar as usually.

comparing ( ) to the band's last album, ágatis byrjun, it can be described as more minimalistic and atmospheric than its predessessor. it's a rawer and darker album and considerably less accessible than ágatis byrjun; drum beats are usually slow (tracks 1 and 3 are drum-free) and the songs take their time to progress into the trademark sigur rós emotional climaxes, making for a more challenging but more rewarding listen. with its intense highs and lows and its mood ranging from brittle to brutal, ( ) is very much a headphone album.

the album's entire packaging is completely free of text and markings. you won't find album credits or tracklistings anywhere on the album. the only thing representing the album is jónsi's handwriting of "sigur rós" on the front cover and a symbol cut out in the slipcase most accurately described as a pair of parentheses, or two semi-circles. the symbol can be interpreted as either an emphasis on the album's untitle (the listener is free to make up his/her own title since there is essentially none) or an emphasis on the division of the album, the two semi-circles symbolizing the album's two halves. or maybe it doesn't "mean" anything. every listener is of course free to make up their own mind.

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