For those of you that love Icelandic rock and/or all those Wes Anderson loving hipsters, Sigur Rós have confirmed a November 6 street date for two separate but related releases: a DVD called Heima and a double CD set titled Hvarf / Heim.
Heima-which translates as both "At Home" and "Homeland"– chronicles a series of free concerts Sigur Rós played in their native Iceland over the course of summer 2006. Combining both the biggest and smallest shows of their career, the entire tour was filmed, and now provides a unique insight into one of the world's most fascinating and inscrutable bands captured live while exploring their natural habitat like never before. The film is currently being edited by Nick Fenton with direction from the Oscar- nominated Dean DeBlois.
The Hvarf / Heim CD is made up primarily of two EPs. The title of the first, Hvarf, translates appropriately as "disappeared," as its five tracks are new recordings of lost songs from various points in Sigur Rós' history. The first three, 'Salka,' 'Hljomalind' and 'I Gaer,' were never released either because they were not recorded, or because they were recorded and then not included on a finished album. The fourth and fifth, 'Von' and perennial live favorite 'Hafsol' are radical and complete reimaginings of songs from the band's first album, the original versions of which were recorded by the band's Jonsi Birgisson and Georg Holm with drummer Agust Gunnarsson prior to Kjartan Sveinsson and Orri Dyrason joining the band.
An alternative translation of "Hvarf" is "haven," which ties into the title of the second portion of this release, Heim, or "home." Heim's six tracks are live acoustic versions of songs from all four Sigur Rós studio albums recorded in Iceland either during the band's summer 2006 tour or early this spring. The unplugged scenario had been pretty much imposed on the band, there being no power at some of the locations.
This is pretty awesome news from one of the biggest bands around. Make sure you check out both the Double LP and the DVD on November 6, 2007.
