Agaetis Byrjun

Lasting two seconds short of 72 minutes, Ágætis byrjun was a seismic shift from their previous record, Von: more melody, drama and tone, more accessible and anthemic. Twenty-one years after its release, it hasn’t remotely dated, lacking any relationship to grunge, industrial, ambient, pop or any other genre — not even Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai, points of comparison that cropped up in reviews. Perhaps the album’s unique DNA is simply Iceland’s environment, the community, the people. This, after all, was not a band, just music. Or just, perhaps, a force of nature. And like the aftermath of a hurricane, the landscape out there is very rarely the same again.