( )

( ) refined the bombast of Sigur Rós' 1999 breakthrough, Ágætis byrjun, for an album that had a smooth, almost narrative continuity, opening with uplift and descending, steadily, to a more ruminative and melancholic place. Abstract but earthy, foreign but intimately familiar, almost natal, the band’s sound seemed to come from nowhere, but actually had a pretty clear lineage, joining the spacey grandeur of Pink Floyd and Radiohead with the healing heart of ambient and meditation music—the companion to a thousand private reckonings. Arty, yes, but the title here said it all: an attempt to frame feelings otherwise impossible to express.