Sigur Ros: Jonsi Birgisson (vocals, guitar); Kjartan Sveinsson (keyboards); Georg Holm (bass guitar); Orri Pall Dyrason (drums).

Recording information: 2005.

For its fourth full-length studio album, Sigur Ros returns to the sound that made the Icelandic ensemble an internationally renowned rock band. Whereas the group's first outing, VON, was dark and heavy, and 2002's () was often ambient and drone-driven, TAKK…sees Jonsi Birgisson and the lads revisiting the chiming, soaring aesthetic of AGAETIS BYRJUN, the quartet's acclaimed breakthrough record. On this 2005 disc, Sigur Ros's melodies and rhythms ebb and flow beautifully, occasionally building to fierce, guitar-laden crests. Birgisson's high, wispy vocals are still key to the band's sound, but the foursome's intuitive instrumental work, which is highlighted by atmospheric keyboards and pounding percussion, truly carries these songs, resulting in a potent, mesmerizing album.

What the critics say…

Rolling Stone (No. 983, p.104) - 3.5 out of 5 stars - "…TAKK… suggests a far more abstract Coldplay, stripped of their stadium bombast…."
Spin (p.139) - "Birgisson sings in tongues most of us can't comprehend, and thus he can punch emotional buttons in a strangely direct way." - Grade: A
Entertainment Weekly (No. 840, p.88) - "…[T]he thundering majesty of harder tracks…finds its strings-laden counterpart in the swooning, slow-mo abstraction that makes up the bulk of this disc…" - Grade: A-
Uncut (p.109) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[E]motionally seductive….Dark clouds of intensity gather and then slowly disperse, leaving a crystalline calm."
Magnet (p.108) - "TAKK's mini suites play out with typically complex beauty….Gathering tiny moments of clarity into big, breathtaking shapes that are glorious to examine from near or far."
The Wire (p.63) - "The music's strengths lie in its sheer vastness, depicting a series of enormous peaks and crescendos before suddenly cutting back to tiny details, contrasting the hugeness of the group's full sound with the fragility of some of its elements."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.60) - Ranked #27 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "A coming-of-age album from Iceland's etherealists."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.99) - 4 stars out of 5 - "TAKK…delivers a mighty, crashing release of soul-wringing, meat-eating noise to resolve its complex, tension-building miniaturism."