The Gift

This morning I received a gift of inspiration, an early remembrance of the day I entered the world, the day I became flesh, a counting of yet another year past.

The gift? A DVD of the incredibly beautiful documentary film Heima. The title, translated from it's native Icelandic to English, means "Home" and documents a series of 2006 performances and behind-the-scenes glimpses into the lives of the members of Sigur Ros, Iceland's phenomenal post-rock ensemble, as they return to their native soil, triumphant after having toured the world. The music is peculiar... gorgeous, ethereal, often melancholic... pulling liberally from the traditions of chamber music, rock & roll and lavish orchestral works. Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/singer Jonsi's high falsetto weaves in and out of the heavenly compositions using a mixture of his native Icelandic and nonsense syllables which he dubs "Hopelandic".

Throughout the film, lush images of the raw & pastoral Icelandic landscape are seamlessly woven together with cameos of the members discussing their craft, their music, their love of their homeland, their neighbors, friends & family, glimpses into their creative process and some simply devastating live performance footage.

Never before have I seen a more perfect fusion of image and music.

Thank you.