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Sigur Rós break their two-year silence to
release their first-ever film and a companion
album later this autumn. Filmed over two
weeks last summer when the band undertook a
free tour of Iceland, 'Heima' stands as a
colossal labour of love - not to say grand
folly - typical of this most exacting of
bands. While most people set up a few
cameras at, say, a festival, and call it a
DVD, Sigur Rós decided they would push the
boat (bus and plane) out for their debut
venture into live film, hauling 40-plus
people round 15 locations to the furthest
flung corners of their homeland to create
something, well, inspirational. On their way
they went to ghost towns, outsider art
shrines, national parks, small community
halls and the absolute middle-of-nowhere-ness
of the highland wilderness, as well as
playing the largest gig of their career (and
in Icelandic history) at their triumphant
homecoming Reykjavik show. 'Heima'
(Icelandic for "at home" or "homeland"),
truly, shows Sigur Rós as never before.
Whereas seeing the group live is normally a
large-scale and sometimes overwhelming
experience, making full use of lights and
mesmeric visuals, 'Heima' was always intended
to reveal more of what was actually going on
on stage. It does this via long-held
close-ups and a rare intimate proximity,
without ever once breaking the spell.
Loosely based on a documentary format - and
including personal reflections from the band
- 'Heima' also serves as an alternative
primer for Iceland the country, which is
revealed as less stag destination-du-jour and
more desolate, magical place where human
beings have little right to trespass.
'Heima' features performances of songs from
all four Sigur Rós albums, many radically
reworked, as well as two exclusive new songs
in 'Guitardjamm', which was filmed inside an
abandoned herring oil tank in the far West of
the country, and the traditional 'A Ferd Til
Breidarfjardar 1922', performed with poet
Steindor Andersen. 'Heima' was directed by
Dean DeBlois, a long-time fan of the band and
director of the Oscar-nominated animated
feature 'Lilo & Stitch', using an Icelandic
crew. 'Hvarf-Heim', the companion record, is
more cousin than sister release. It has two
titles because it is in effect two separate,
but complementary, entities, with -- get this
-- two front covers and a limited edition run
of two discs. Open it one way and it's
'Hvarf' ("disappeared" orr "haven", a five
track electric studio record comprising
mainly unreleased rarities from Sigur Rós's
back-pages, none of which is on 'Heima'. Open
it the other way and it's 'Heim' ("home"), a
six track acoustic record, comprising
delicate new unplugged versions of some of
Sigur Rós's best moments, which have never
been performed before. The band were
originally asked to deliver a traditional
live album to go with the live film, but
thinking about it, with Sigur Rós that
wasn't ever going to happen, and what we have
here in 'Hvarf-Heim' is infinitely more
stimulating and exciting than some
will-this-do? toss-offs of songs they honed
to perfection in the studio aeons ago.
'Hvarf-Heim' features three previously
absolutely unreleased electric songs (Salka,
Hljomalind and I Gaer) and is, anyway,
wall-to-wall re-workings. Whatever way you
look at it, 'Hvarf-Heim' is a great Sigur
Rós record.
'Heima' receives its worldwide premiere on
September 27th at the Icelandic Film Festival
and a run of national premieres at film
festivals all around the world follows
including a UK premiere (full details soon to
be announced). The film will then receive a
nationwide UK release in selected cinemas
across the UK.
On November 5th 'Heima' will be released as a
Special Edition double DVD package with a
104-page book containing stunning photos from
the tour. It will also be released as a
standard 2-DVD set. The first disc of both
packages features the 'Heima' film, with a
choice of a 5.1 surround sound or pcm stereo
mix, whilst the second DVD will contain the
full performances of each song in the movie
amongst many other extras.
THIS IS THE FIRST CHANCE TO SEE SIGUR RÓS
LIVE ON DVD
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