Monday, August 31, 2009

Njósnavélin (aka The Nothing Song or Untitled 4)

This one song practically changed my entire life. Well, it changed the way I view/listen to music at least. It was my brother who first introduced me to Sigur Rós, and it was this song by them that I heard first. The music I listened to was, as I like to call it, radio music. I would listen to what's popular. The only way I heard music that wasn't mainstream was if my sister or brothers would play something in the house. That's how I came to love Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional; at one time, neither were mainstream, though sometimes it seems strange that they weren't. I was once a radio listener, something that I now despise. You know who those people are.
You: What do you listen to?
RD: Oh, you know, whatever. I like a little bit of everything. Whatever's on the radio.
Cringe.
Anyways. I remember sitting in my old office in my house. I had Winamp going (what I used before iTunes, strange, huh?) and this song comes on. I definitely don't recognize it. I check to see what it is.
The Nothing Song -- Sigur Rós...................7:33
I am suddenly mesmerized by it. It's like nothing I've ever heard before. I listen to the "lyrics," because at the time I had no idea that it wasn't lyrics. Just phrases and syllables, beautiful ones, created by Jónsi Birgisson. In my young, naïve mind, there's no way to describe the song. It's just...pretty.

I knew it as The Nothing Song for years after that; it wasn't until my Junior year that I learned that it was also called "Untitled 4," when my ex-lover gave me the album that featured it. In fact, it was this band, Sigur Rós, that brought my ex-lover and I together. They weren't a popular band; they still aren't. None of my friends knew who they were. I was amazed when I found out that someone loved them as much as I did. I almost instantaneously fell in love...
Sigh. Never you mind.
Here's the song. Enjoy!
PS: I always forget that it was in the movie Vanilla Sky, which I haven't seen by the way. Is it worth the see? Maybe just for the song, it might be.

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