Angels of the Universe [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

by Hilmar Oern Hilmarsson, Sigur Ros

Overview

The soundtrack for Iceland's much celebrated film Englar Alheimsins (Angels of the Universe) lives up to the lavish praise with an overcast and ethereal score composed by a startling duo of Hilmar Oern Hilmarsson and Sigur Ros. With a story revolving around a man losing his mind, this marvelously stark musical accompaniment was certainly essential to the experience. Hilmarsson seems perpetually in tune with the film's despair -- "Nidurlaeging," "Stigidj Nidjur Til Heljar," "Mattleysi" -- all written with such a complex mixture of opaque strings and acoustic guitars that one imagines the composer having a tragic breakdown of his own during the songwriting process. Sigur Ros has two pieces at the end of the soundtrack as well. While both were originally recorded for the band's Ny Battery EP, they work in equal measure here: "Bium Bium Bambalo" is a long, hypnotic interpretation of an ancient Irish-Icelandic lullaby (making it the first time the song has been transferred from oral tradition to record), whereas "Danarfregnir Og Jardjafarir" (Death Announcement and Funerals) is a slightly more prog-rock take on a Joni Muli Arnason composition (Iceland radio service used the original track to relate daily deaths and arrangements). As one can guess, Englar Alheimsins is far from an uplifting experience, yet its stirring, remarkable melancholia is something valuable for anybody in the mood for something strangely special. ~ Dean Carlson

Product Details

Release Date:	12/09/2008
Label:	FAT CAT
UPC:	0600116110190

Tracks

1. Approach/Dream
2. Memory
3. The Black Dog and the Scottish Play
4. Degradation
5. Over the Bend
6. Colours
7. Journey to the Underworld
8. Shave
9. On the Road
10. Another Memory
11. Relapse
12. Coma
13. Schiller in China
14. Helpless
15. Te Morituri...
16. B¿¿um B¿¿um Bambal¿¿
17. Death Announcements and Funerals

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Hilmar Oern Hilmarsson   Primary Artist
Sigur Ros   Primary Artist
Siggi Baldursson   Percussion
Kristjan Eldjarn   Guitar
Birgir Baldursson   Percussion
Szymon Kuran   Violin

Technical Credits

Sigur Ros   Mixing,Arranger
Kjartan Klartansson   Mixing
Tomas Tomasson   Audio Engineer
Ivar Ragnarsson   Audio Engineer,Mixing
Georg Bjarnason   Audio Engineer
Hilmar Oern Hilmarsson   Mixing,Audio Production,Composer,Arranger
Jon Mull Arnason   Composer
Neil Young   Composer
Jonas Arnesen   Composer
Andrew Lloyd Webber   Composer