Monday, March 30, 2009

Cut to the Ending - Already Back Home

So, I'm back home in Boston.

I realize that there's an entire city that I never quite mentioned here.

That would be London.

Internet access was a bit choppy at my friend's flat. But more importantly...I was in London, and didn't have time to blog. Iceland was different - free reliable WiFi in the hotel, and time to post before bed.

For the sake of continuity, I'm going to treat this like a Quentin Tarantino film and disregard temporal logic. Cue Chuck Berry. More about London throughout the week.

Here's how the trip ends - I arrived home in one piece, albeit rather tired. Two full flights on Icelandair yesterday. Me carting a bagful of six Starbucks city mugs, 500 ml each of Brennivin and Apple Schnapps from Duty Free in Iceland, and assorted sweets, teas, and candies to be given as gifts.

I watched an amazing film on the flight back called Heima about the Icelandic band Sigur Rós.

I fully admit that I never understood why people liked Sigur Rós until now. To me, they simply sounded odd.

But this film documented their tour of free shows throughout Iceland held after a world tour - concerts performed to tens of thousands in Reykjavik, or shows to a few folks who trekked to the abandoned fishing village of Djúpavík.

Their music is moody, and the perfect audio soundtrack for the visuals of Iceland. While the film's cinematography was exquisite, having seen much of this landscape in person, it merely made me nostalgic for the prior week in Iceland.

I will throw it out here - to fully get Sigur Rós, one must adventure around Iceland.

Their sounds match the extremes of the Icelandic environment - the snow-capped glaciers and the arid valleys below...the months of darkness and the months of endless light...the jagged rocks...the geothermal energy...the rugged people.

I might try downloading a few Sigur Rós songs, but I think I'm going to need visuals of Iceland to fully enjoy listening to them. Good thing I have tons of photos and my memories.

2 comments:

The Fuz said...

I can't believe all it took was a viewing of Heima to get you to like Sigur Ros! I own it! One little trip to Iceland and he converts...unbelievable....

Jason said...

I don't know that I converted...yet...but I'm telling you, they make much more sense to me now after having been to Iceland and seeing the natural beauty that totally complements the music they create.