The Hymnal of DMST

I've always listened to much of Sigur Ros as a window to heaven, meaning I consider their work to some degree heavenly music in the true sense of the word, otherworldly at least, in some way reflecting a glorious grandeur that we'll one day know.

Well, I finally solved the problem of the absence of a record player in this house, and I am slowly but surely rediscovering my vinyl collection. Yesterday I got to Do Make Say Think's You, You're a History in Rust. And if I hear Sigur Ros as heaven, I hear this as hymns.

There is something not only transcendent but also inherently corporate about their music, and the songs come together in a way that not only expresses the full range of emotions loud and clear, but also as if one instrument is proclaiming to another. The songs are all at once declaration and dialogue. There's a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension. At times reflective and restrained, other times ardent and jubilant. Improvised and spontaneous, deliberate and calculated. All this is what makes good hymnody. 

It is particularly the series of tracks "A With Living," "The Universe!," and "A Tender History in Rust"  that inspires this tribute.


The other week in the metro I stood next to a man with a Do Make Say Think t shirt. He looked just as nerdy as me. I fought the impulse to hug him.