I almost wanted things to go sour this time. A total lack of innovation, an album too similar or too removed from Ágætis Byrjun and (), maybe a bombastic album without any real depth. Better to fuck up now on an EP than on a full-length, right? Plus, the criticism might have done Sigur Rós some good: negating their sense of indestructibility, pushing forth another facet of the band, and forging a new path toward greatness. With the release of the Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do EP (the music written for Merce Cunningham's split sides dance piece), I am left with no option but to be jarred by the idiocy and absurdity of such a thought.
While Radiohead, who also provided music for Cunningham, opted not to release what they played, Sigur Rós chose to capitalize on the moment. The three sections, "Ba Ba," "Ti Ki," and "Di Do," are, theoretically, constructed so that they may be played in any order, but the order the EP title suggests seems to work best. "Ba Ba" begins with a gentle glockenspiel and a "bummsett," which is a homemade percussive instrument made of eight ballet shoes. Sure, the idea may teeter on the pretentious side at first, but the overall effect really is impressive. Like many Sigur Rós songs, however, it drones on for quite a while before going anywhere. Luckily, when it does reach its climax, it does so in an effortlessly elegant crescendo that makes the droning parts more than worthwhile.
"Ti Ki," likewise, does this, only here the glockenspiel and bummsett duet lasts far longer. What sounds like a backing tape occasionally drops in a wrinkled sound, which, although very interesting, sounds a lot like what a microphone sounds like when dropped during recording. Here, too, the crescendo is very effective; at first rising only a trifle and soon after subduing again, so as to create a Wagner-like tension, only to be broken by the final, true crescendo.
It is the closer, however, "Di Do," which provides the most release and is also the most rewarding. Remnants from "Ti Ki" spill over for a short while, but then the song turns away from the direction of the previous two songs. A chanting voice oscillates from channel to channel, and, scattered, the words, "Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do" are repeated. Suspense has always been an integral part of Sigur Rós music, but here it is at perhaps its most effective and inspiring. The glockenspiel and bummsett rise alongside the deranged chanting, and as if that weren't enough, deafening feedback is launched forth like a rock from a catapult, shattering the composure of the whole song and of the whole EP. For, although both "Ba Ba" and "Ti Ki" presented climaxes to bring the songs to life, "Di Do" makes it seem as though they were both holding back on us.
Although only an EP, Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do proves once again that Sigur Rós is capable of amazing things, embodying all that was great about their past, all that is promising today, while hinting towards things to come in the dawn of a brighter morrow. And now that Radiohead has moved on from Kid A and Amnesiac, Sigur Rós may also be finally able to escape the tiring comparisons between them. Things are looking pretty sunny in Iceland.
1. Ba Ba
2. Ti Ki
3. Di Do
More about: Sigur Rós
