Ekvílibríum is Valgeir Sigurðsson's debut album, but here he has revealed that as well as being a gifted producer, engineer and musician, he is equally skillful as a crafter of songs and instigator of a cascade of emotions.

Valgeir is joined by a number of guest musicians on Ekvílibríum, such as Samuli Kosminen on drums and Nico Muhly who plays piano. The album also features vocal performances from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, who helps craft 2 of the songs, as well as Faun Fables' Dawn McCarthy and J. Walker aka Machine Translations.

- buy this album in our web-shop

 

1. -read the reviews below
   

- press tools

REVIEWS / PRESS

from IMPOSE MAGAZINE

If you’re not sure where you’ve seen Valgeir Sigurdsson’s name before, check the credits on Björk’s Vespertine and Medulla albums. Also an Icelandic native, he has been a longtime collaborator with Björk, but is just getting around to sharing his own work with the world. Ekvílibríum marks Sigurdsson’s debut album, and it is well worth the wait. Right from the opening sounds of “A Symmetry,” his input on Björk’s full-lengths is evident. Lo-end frequencies threaten to tear your speakers in half while music box tones dance across staccato static bursts on “Focal Point.”

Guest musicians and vocalists enhance the humanity behind the machines to great effect. Bonnie “Prince” Billy penned the lyrics for “Evolution of Waters” and “Kin,” turning in soul-stirring vocal performances on both. J. Walker evokes poetic imagery on “Baby Architect” with an understated singing voice that fits Sigurdsson’s intimate compositions perfectly. Ultimately the album’s strength is in Sigurdsson’s arrangements – painstaking in detail, yet fluid to the listening ear. Ekvílibríum is a triumph for his Bedroom Community imprint and no doubt will find its way onto a number of year-end lists for 2007.

By Jason Randall Smith

________

from REMIX MAGAZINE

Valgeir Sigurðsson - Ekvilibríum (Bedroom Community)

Excellence in ambience

This is an expressive, emotional triumph for accomplished artist and long-time Björk producer Sigurðsson, now stepping out solo. Recorded in Iceland, the set combines many elements that Sigurðsson has favored in his work with others, from skillfully rendered elecro-beds to the nature-focused lyrics (“Evolution of Waters”, “Winter Sleep”), tightly focused moods, Eastern influences (“A Symmetry”) and intriguingly hidden, clicking ghosts of instruments and voices that weave in and out almost beyond detection. It’s evocative and detailed, and it’s all Sigurðsson’s own.

by Kristi Kates

________

from THE INDEPENDENT

Valgeir Sigurdsson: Björk's right-hand man takes centre stage

He's helped a superstar on her great musical leaps. Now he's taking one of his own. Nick Hasted spends a few days in Iceland at the remote live-in studio of the producer Valgeir Sigurdsson

Valgeir Sigurdsson was at the recording controls for eight years as his Icelandic countrywoman Björk conducted her most crucial experiments. He has also brought other ground-breaking artists – Bonnie "Prince" Billy, CocoRosie, Maps – to his home studio in the Reykjavik suburbs, where they live till their work is done.

Now, Sigurdsson has stepped out of the shadows – first with his own label, Bedroom Community, and this week with his solo debut, Ekvilibrium, which distills his warm, liquid, organic-electronic sound.

Driving through the ash-black lava fields around Reykjavik airport to his home studio, the Greenhouse, the isolation that Sigurdsson's clients agree to becomes clear. It is here in the suburban sprawl in the hills around the city, in a street built for artists in the 1970s, that he and Björk first conceived their philosophy of "domestic music". "She would bounce crazy ideas off me, like making a song out of all the sounds in the kitchen," he says. "Quite early on, the conceptual side existed in [her Vespertine of 2001]: the intimacy of the vocal performance, and using chamber music, because that was created in the home.

"I've carried on that domestic way of working here," he continues. "It's full on. There's no divide between living and music. Will Oldham [aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy] created pressure for himself when he brought all his musicians here to Iceland in the middle of winter for last year's The Letting Go. It could fail, and it would be a disaster if it did. But taking musicians into my home feels like the right way to make music. It's obviously very personal, because you can't escape. I get really involved emotionally. Ending a project feels like ending a relationship."

This intensity is expressed in the characteristic intimacy of Sigurdsson's productions – the way you can hear Björk and others breathe, sucking you into the sound. At concerts growing up, Sigurdsson says, "I was always disappointed by how distant things were, how messed up it sounded. My records are how I hoped a concert would be. In the studio I have the ability to focus on things you can't hear normally. You can physically push closer and closer, like you're putting your head inside the instrument, until you feel it tremble."

Of course, the 36-year-old does not just exist in the Greenhouse's musical isolation ward. When we drive into Reykjavik's downtown 101 district, he is surrounded by friends: Sruli, a Jewish-Australian artist who makes shoes from whale foreskins; Johann, who plays Bedroom Community records at his fashion boutique. By midnight we're drinking in Kaffi Barrin, the bar that sold Damon Albarn on Reykjavik a decade back. It's a bohemia that barely extends beyond one street.

"It's good because it's a small society, based around downtown," Sigurdsson says. "And I like to be part of that, to an extent. But the place I have my studio is ideal. If you notice, it's a dead end. Nobody comes there except to work. It's a good combination of being isolated and connected."

Back at the studio, the contrast from Reykjavik 101 could not be greater. The door is open to the garden on a grey, wet afternoon. A piano, guitars and 10 speakers are scattered across the pine floors. He is mixing Aton's modern Icelandic chamber music: he sits back, listens, then rushes to twist dials and shove his chair back to the keyboard, silently conducting a world of sound. His analog mixing desk is hooked to the keyboard for digital editing – just the sort of balance, the equilibrium, that his record refers to. "That's how I think about things in general," he admits. "The need to make music for me is when I feel an imbalance. Music heals that, for a while."

Sigurdsson grew up in an Icelandic fishing town of 1,000 people. At nine, he learned to play guitar from his Anglophile cousins' punk records. He soon moved on to Kraftwerk, Prince and classical music, and in his teens invested in a sequencer and drum machine. His break came when Björk invited him to engineer her songs for the Lars von Trier musical Dancer in the Dark (2000). By the end, as well as recording her soundtrack album, Selma Songs, he was synching her music into the film and recording a 90-piece orchestra. "People are proud of her," he says of Iceland's most famous daughter. "It's good for us that the figurehead for Icelandic music is so odd and individual."

The same words could be used of Sigurdsson.

Ekvilibrium is out now on Bedroom Community

by NICK HASTED

Published: 21 September 2007

________

from ANGRY APE

Valgeir Sigurðsson - Ekvílibríum

[Bedroom Community]

Bedroom Community curator, revered producer, engineer, composer, mixologist and A&R man, Valgeir Sigurðsson is one talented individual. Check through your record collection, the chances are you own a Sigurðsson produced album and don't even know it. From the leftfield electronica of Damiak to the Mercury Music Prize nominated sounds of Maps, Sigurðsson touches on all bases with his sought after production skills.

Múm, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Björk and CocoRosie have all, at some point in their careers, passed through his custom built Greenhouse Studios in Iceland. Sigurðsson influence doesn't end there though, he is also credited on the Being John Malkovich score and there are strong rumours flying about of a future collaboration with Vashti Bunyan.

How he found the time to record and produce his spell-binding debut solo album, "Ekvílibríum" is anyone's guess. His Bedroom Community imprint follow the release of Ben Frost's excellent "Theory of Machines" (read our review) and Nico Muhly's neo-classical "Speaks Volumes" with this richly textured album.

Using his extensive friends list, Sigurðsson was able to draft in a number of renowned musicians during the recording process. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy turns up on "Ekvílibríum", along with Bad Seed Warren Ellis, Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables and Machine Translations. "Ekvílibríum" is one of the most delightfully diverse releases of 2007 thus far. However, unlike some collaborative projects (U.N.K.L.E. springs to mind) the guest musicians do not dominate each track. Instead, their influence is of a more subtle nature, less up front, augmenting the ebb and flow of the album, while complimenting Sigurðsson recognizable production skills.

Both "Kin" and "Wintersleep" are "Ekvílibríum" stand-out's. The former, an achingly beautiful cinematic ballad featuring Bonnie 'Prince' Billy 's dulcet tones, sends shivers down the spine with its mournful string orchestration and cascading chord arrangements. "Wintersleep" incorporates Dawn McCarthy's enticing vocals into a melodramatic suite full of production trickery. The lyrical content adds to its ethereal charm with McCarthy suggesting that we join her "in this wintersleep/ the land (that) dreams".

Such beautiful compositions are contrasted wonderfully by tracks like the dark-ambient glitch sounds of opener "A Symmetry" and the staggered electronica of "Focal Point", which is notable for its use of glacial piano and diamond-edged beat patterns.

Having said that though, "Ekvílibríum" excels during its dreamier moments. The intro to "After Four" sounds oddly out of place this decade, yet works its spell, reeling the listener in with its alluring 80's melody. "Equilibrium Is Restored", meanwhile, features wandering digital tones and distant wind chimes that give the impression of a slow-motion toy box.

Sigurðsson directs "Ekvílibríum superbly, alternating between vocal and instrumental arrangements, while transcending multiple genres gracefully, focusing the album into a cohesive recorded document. Several guest musicians are effortlessly blended into the mix amidst his unique attention to detail production skills. It's an album that should see him emerge from the shadows of the mixing desk and into an artist in his own right. A significant step in building his own musical legacy, Sigurðsson just might be this generation's very own Van Dyke Parks.

Published Friday, 21st September, 2007 at 2:46 PM

Release date: 10th September 2007

Written by Michael Henaghan

________

from ALARM

Valgeir Sigurdsson: Ekvilibrium

September 12, 2007 | Reviews: Music

Long known for his prodigious skill as a producer and having worked hand in hand with Bjork to create the gloriously ornate textures of her Vespertine and Medulla albums, Valgeir Sigurdsson has surprisingly just now gotten around to making his first solo disc.

Remarkably imaginative, Sigurdsson weaves a meticulous tapestry of glistening textures from reverberating chimes, droning strings, ambient synths, and carefully constructed beats. Guest performers abound, from Faun Fable’s Dawn McCarthy to avant-garde pianist Nico Muhly, but Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy steals the show, providing vocals for “Kin” and “Evolution of Waters,” two lushly string-laden tracks.

Sigurdsson’s attention to detail is just as stunning when he’s creating a dense forest of sputtering and clicking beats for “A Symmetry” as it is when he’s layering strings for the beauty of “Winter Sleep.” On Ekvilibrium, Sigurdsson successfully weaves organic instrumentation with digitalism to produce a gorgeous outcome.

- Matt Fink

________

from THE LIST

Ekvílibríum (Bedroom Community)

Already this man deserves a medal having worked with Björk in the engineer’s capsule for almost a decade and staying patient with Lars von Trier on the soundtrack for Dancer in the Dark, a project which must have felt ten years long. Now he’s branched out with his own record label and a debut album which manages to breach the sonic wall dividing stark electronic mastery and genuine human emotion.

From the spookily vibey ‘Equilibrium is Restored’ to the devilishly thrusting ‘A Symmetry’, Ekvílibríum is a diverse chunk of love from an Icelandic icon.

by Brian Donaldson

________

from PAPERTHINWALLS

VALGIER SIGURDSSON - “Evolution of Waters”

from Ekvílibríum (Bedroom Community)

Electronic // Out September 11

Quitting a nearly decade-long gig as studio sidekick to the world’s premiere bird-wearing alterna-elf to start a record label while the music industry burns doesn’t sound like a good idea—it sounds like career suicide. But for Icelandic superproducer, and Björk engineer Valgeir Sigurðsson, the gamble paid off. Not only did he miss out on the uneven mishmash of Volta, he’s proved he’s more than just a knob twiddler on his gorgeous solo debut, Ekvílibríum. Previously, his most lauded works have sat on opposite sides of the spectrum: On one end, the super-processed microglitches of Vespertine and Medúlla; on the other, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy’s mostly acoustic, string-laden The Letting Go. Sigurðsson splits the difference between the two on the album’s standout, “Evolution Of Waters.” The track is practically an advertisement for the Icelandic Culture Board, hitting all the touchstones of its musical stars (Björk’s aching strings, Sigur Rós’s evolving slabs of atmosphere, Múm’s radio-static percussion) while avoiding their pitfalls (histrionics, you-sai-lo’ing, evil-little-girl vocals). Sigurðsson demonstrates why he remained Björk’s right-hand man for so long, showcasing his uncanny knack for wedding the electronic and the organic and creating a must-listen for any Icelandophile. (Or for anyone who’s wondered what Múm would sound like with a vastly superior singer.)

- TOM MALLON

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

________

from The Milk Factory  ALBUM OF THE MONTH!

VALGEIR SIGURÐSSON

Ekvílibríum

HVALUR3CD/LP

Bedroom Community 2007

10 Tracks. 49mins10secs

Icelandic musician and producer Valgeir Sigurðsson is best known as a regular collaborator with Björk, having contributed to all her records since Selmasongs, and for recent stints with the likes of Bonnie Prince Billy (The Letting Go) and CocoRosie (The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn). He recently set up his own imprint, Bedroom Community, and has published Speaks Volumes, the debut album from twenty-four year old American classical composer Nico Muhly and the most recent output from Melbourne’s Ben Frost.

Ekvílibríum, Sigurðsson’s long overdue debut album is an elegant collection of gentle acoustic pieces tainted with orchestral swathes and discreet electronics textures. If the compositions could appear deceptively simple at first, repeat listens reveal complex and intricate formations which explode in colourful ribbons of sounds, textures and emotions to form the backbone of Sigurðsson’s exquisite miniature tales.

Nico Muhly handles the score here and appears in various capacities (piano, synths, celesta, string arrangements), leading an impressive cast, amongst which Guy Sigsworth, another regular Björk contributor, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Faun Fables’ Dawn McCarthy, Nick Cave collaborator Warren Ellis and Machine Translations’ J. Walker are some of the most high-profile intervenients. Sigurðsson makes good use of this constant afflux of energy. He, who is more often found in the background, guides this exotic ensemble through the meanderings of his imagination.

Although the majority of the compositions collected here are instrumental, vocals occasional materialize and bring an element of human tension into this wonderfully detailed and dense patchwork. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy lends his softly droned torments to Evolution Of Waters and Kin, pushing the two songs into moody corners. Evolution Of Waters especially sounds like a precious stone set against a lush string-laden backdrop of shimmering sub-melodies. There are echoes of Mark Kozelek on Baby Architect as J. Walker weaves surrealist lyrics into Sigurðsson’s wonderful atmospheric pop while Dawn McCarthy brings earthy flavours and emotional grounding to the dramatic Winter Sleep.

As a counterpoint to the rich and vibrant layers of opening track A Symmetry and Focal Point, After Four and even more so Equilibrium Is Restored offer beautiful autumnal textures and melancholic overtones. The latter track is not without recalling some of the ambiences of Ben Frost’s superb Theory Of Machines. The two remaining instrumentals allow for some of the most poignant arrangements and cinematic moments of the record. At just one minute forty, Before Nine serves as an impeccable introduction to the heart-warming Kin, while the intricate shimmering piano and guitar motifs of Lungs, For Merrilee bring this album to a truly inspiring finale.

Despite the many collaborators involved and the ambitious aspect of the project, Ekvílibríum is beautifully understated and subtle and above all deeply poetic. Valgeir Sigurðsson is the most welcoming and thoughtful of hosts and, as he leads his companions through various narratives, he orchestrates one of the most exhilarating and perfect records you’ll hear this year.

________

from WORD - like a scientist

Valgeir Sigurðsson - Ekvílibríum

Aching beauty in every minute. That’s the five word description that springs to mind for Ekvílibríum, the debut album of Valgeir Sigurðsson, perhaps not the easiest to remember name, but certainly one of the most well known for being a stellar producer to various artists. The most famous is probably Björk, for whom he did various work on the delicate Vespertine and Medulla, but he has also worked with Bonnie “Prince” Billy (who guests on two songs here), and Cocorosie, a band of which I know very little. In the midst of all this production work, he started the Bedroom Community label, which shot to the top of everyone’s minds earlier this year with the outrageously fantastic Theory of Machines by Ben Frost. On his solo debut, there is a little bit of all these influences, from delicate folk vocals to careening strings to micro-noise beats, along with a various assortment of old instruments, and above all, an absolutely pristine, almost unbelievably natural recording aesthetic. These songs sound like they are in your room with you. Nowhere is this more apparent on my favorite track, “Baby Architect,” with J. Walker on vocals and 5 or so instruments (including ‘velcro’!). This song could have easily gone on for 10 blissful, gorgeous minutes. There is an ever present crackling fuzz throughout the song that reminds me of static being generated. To call this nostalgic would be understating the case. The strings and horns give it a majestic sound, even though the mood is one of pensive thought. “Focal Point” might be the most memorable track, with it’s distinctive piano by Nico Muhly and traces of Vespertine. The instrumental “After Four” has a mindbending and luscious synthesizer melody that floats throughout the track, taking you on a trip through the middle of the album. Elsewhere, “Equilbrium Is Restored” and “Before Nine” provide us with perhaps the most transcendent tracks of the set, with airy strings, synths, and piano. This tableau of celestial music takes us into the final portion of the album, with the second of 2 Bonnie “Prince” Billy vocal tracks, “Kin” and the amazing closer “Lungs, For Merrilee.” Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Will Oldham)’s track sounds like it’s from the perspective of a God, but could also easily be from a parent, a tale of love and empathy for the created. The strings on this song are especially lovely but the celesta (such an unusual and gorgeous instrument, appropriate to this album) and guitar melodies take centerstage. Bonnie’s vocals weave in and out of this with a classical grace benefitting its subject matter, reinforcing Will Oldham’s remarkable range. “Lungs, For Merrilee” takes us out in a grand fashion. Beginning as the quietest of compositions, the strings and piano swell and cascade over it’s course, reminding me a little bit of a cross between Ben Frost’s “Theory of Machines” and the closing theme from Heat. For me, it’s as perfect and cinematic of a way to end the album as any I could imagine.

by Keith Pishnery

________

From ALL MUSIC GUIDE

Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurðsson is best known for his work for other artists (Björk and Bonnie "Prince" Billy, mostly), so it actually comes as no surprise that his solo debut...comes as a surprise. It is a "producer's record," in that Sigurðsson called in favors across the board (although, no, Björk is not part of the adventure), lining up a revolving cast of musicians and three singers: Billy, Faun Fables' Dawn McCarthy, and Machine Translations' J. Walker. However, despite all the diversity among constituent parts, the whole remains surprisingly -- that word again -- consistent. In fact, listening to Ekvilibrium helps you pinpoint and sum up what Sigurðsson brings to other people's records. This debut features quiet electro-acoustic folk pieces made of delicate electronic textures, lushly scored acoustic instruments (lots of strings, subdued piano courtesy of Nico Muhly, occasional brass instruments), and a dreamy feel. In other words: simple compositions developing through complex arrangements. Ekvilibrium contains ten tracks, including four songs and six instrumentals. The album begins with one of KTU's Samuli Kosminen's rough-edged beats ("A Symmetry"), followed by the first song, "Evolution of Waters," the first of two tracks penned by Sigurðsson and Will Oldham. The first half of the album follows a general curve toward the orchestral peak of "Winter Sleep," featuring a ten-piece ensemble and a gripping vocal delivery from Dawn McCarthy. After that, things boil down toward "Kin," Billy's second song. If the songs are more immediately grasped, the instrumentals also provide their fair share of highlights. Highly recommended to fans of post-rock and modern folk.

~ Frantois Couture, All Music Guide

________

From The Times

September 29, 2007

Valgeir Sigurdsson: Ekvílibríum

Having earned his stripes producing some of the more distinctive voices in recent memory (Björk, Kate Nash, Múm), Sigurdsson’s intriguing solo debut floats between genres. Marrying bleepy, insect-like clatter with lush orchestration, postclassical just about covers it.

An impressive guestlist includes Warren Ellis, Guy Sigsworth and Dawn McCarthy, her banshee howl lighting up Winter Sleep. Occasionally things are overcooked, Will Oldham’s hillbilly croak sitting oddly over swathes of skittering electronica. But, on the whole, this is wonderful stuff.

rating 4/5

by Danny Clark

________

from Mapsadaisical Wordpress

Valgeir Sigurdsson, Ekvilibrium (Bedroom Community)

Friday August 24th 2007, 12:05 am

It may be quite hard to see the thread yoking together this seemingly random list of albums (other than that they are all very much approved round my way): Bjork’s Vespertine, Coco Rosie’s Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn, Bonnie Prince Billy’s The Letting Go, and Nico Muhly’s Speaks Volumes.  The thread is silken, and visible only when the light hits at the right angle; it is manufactured by the polymathematical (producer, engineer, instrumentalist, label boss; tilting at Jim O’Rourke’s all-comers title perhaps) and quite probably multi-legged producer Valgeir Sigurdsson.  You can hear various elements of this record haberdashery on Ekvilbrium, including the crystalline crunch of Vespertine’s electronics, Will Oldham’s gritty-yet-tender croon, and Muhly’s piano and orchestral flourish.

Ekvilibrium hangs together with classy electronic pop glue, but has enough substance to ensnare the less casual listener.  Listen deeply to the precise programming under Oldham’s lovely vocals on “Evolution of Waters” as it rises to menace the storm drains, or the dramatic orchestration couching Dawn McCarthy’s jaw-dropping vocals on “Winter Sleep”.  Wonder as I did at the prepared piano and pitter-pat patterns of “Focal Point”, an electronics-and-strings instrumental so good I feel like I’ve been humming it for years (seriously, has this been on an advert or something?).  Follow dizzily the brilliant run of tracks which spiral out to the edge of this web: “Equilibrium Is Restored” rises sleepily from Miasmah-like rattle towards the chamber flourish of “Before Nine”; “Kin” sees one of Will Oldham’s best vocals caught between swooning orchestral reverie and encroaching nightmare; and the piano ruminations of “Lungs, For Merrilee” which build to and through oscillations vaguely akin to the title track of (Sigurdsson’s labelmate) Ben Frost’s Theory of Machines, before ascending skyward at the last.

Sigurdsson’s magic is in the instinctive weaving together of all of this musical gossamer to create a new work of beauty.  If the wind blows the right way, getting caught in this may be inevitable.  Don’t say you weren’t warned…

Ekvilibrium is available in September.  You can order it from Boomkat.

________

from GOD IS IN THE TV

Valgeir Sigurðsson is a man whose head is screwed on tighter than a cross-threaded pen lid five seconds into an English exam. Musically speaking, at least. As an engineer and sessions producer, his CV reads like a stroll down some indie sidestreet of Hollywood Boulevard, with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Björk being two of the brightest stars he can call upon as character references. Ekvílibríum sees him taking the plunge as a standalone musician, donning his soundman lab coat to tackle the Icelandic awe previously colonized by the likes of Múm, Sigur Rós et al. The result may seem a long way in the distance, but it's a manoeuvre executed with the Olympic beauty of Lara Croft doing a swan dive, and one that engraves the V_S initials firmly into the First Album hi scores plaque.

Stopwatching himself to a frugal forty-nine minutes, Sigurðsson sews a spectrum of genres into a futuristic tapestry that's lined with classical edges, calling in a couple of accomplices to help him lick the thread through the needle eye of his stylus. Kin, one of two featured collaborations with the elusive Will Oldham, sparkles with electric piano dreaminess that occasionally lapses into juddering, tremorlike choruses. The Prince's dialect is every bit as lovelorn as you'd expect, obviously comfortable working with his former ops man, and the crystalline orchestra that takes the place of his familiar folky guitar gives his Old Testament lyrics a fresh, experimental flavour, moorish as fruitburst chewing gum. J. Walker of Machine Translations gets the next look-in at the mic on Baby Architect, where some wavery acoustic schlock pastes the bones of an orthodox song structure deep into styrofoam-white noise. 'This is how the whole thing falls together', exclaims Walker during the apex of the slurred rhythm, words which read like assembly instructions when proffered against the billions of bits that make up the LP's ten tracks.

The guest vocalists never outstay their welcome for long, and Sigurðsson passes the electronica litmus test of creating capable instrumentals with flying colours, evidently flexing the muscles he's honed during his studio QC duty. On opener A Symmetry, he lets foghorny droids square off with a disco hiccup that'd make LCD Soundsystem bob faster than a pumice stone in the Playboy jauzzi, while album centerpiece Equilibrium Is Restored clocks in at a risky eight-and-a-half minutes, softening the tempo to shimmer that rivals the opening quarter of Boards Of Canada's Everything You Do Is A Balloon. Minimalist post-rock a la Greg Haines provides the tail end for the movement, but the footloose funk that serves as the record's spine isn't kept on the shelf for long, with Focal Point describing a slowly unfurling music box where the shrill sharps and flats are housed in some thorny blip-hop.

It's Sigurðsson loyalty to his cinematic doctrine that shines through in the end, though, and he storyboards some truly fantastic scenes on more than one occasion. Winter Sleep, which breathes Dr Jekyll's potion fumes into The Snowman's Slush Puppy, is as dark and icy as a slow-motion stumble into a midnight fish pond, and the 'Mogwai writing music for silent film' send-off of Lungs, For Merrilee, which almost collapses under the power of its own trembling beauty, gives the album a pitch-perfect conclusion.

In an era where The Next Big Thing has to have its nose hammered for dud potential before it's allowed off the assembly line, Valgeir Sigurðsson delivers his bonded masterpiece with the surefire professionalism of Michael Mann before he got gazumped on Heat. Instead of opening the floodgates and swamping the listener with a lifetime's worth of ideas, he lets his years of soundstage perception act as parameters for his first crack as a writer, and expertly magnifies the crux of melodic electronica under a carefully positioned glass slide. If you're looking for a favorite for Album Of The Year, dig out your calendar and fold the September corner over extra hard. Licensing scouts: please form an orderly queue. Everyone else: prepare to be dazzled.

rating 5/5

________

from Igloo Magazine

Valgeir Sigurdsson :: Ekvílibríum (2007)

Here's a debut from an Icelandic producer who has worked with Bjork, Coco Rosie, among others. The sounds are wafting delicacies with strings and breezy buzz, music boxes all intertwined with guest vocals and other sensitive arrangements. Symphonic strings with breaks, recalling the soundtrack for Dancer in the Dark which he worked on with Bjork are evident on the sauntering stop/start of "Focal Point." The harmonies are bright and flickery. "Baby Architect" with J. Walker has a rambling, cut-up feel to it, like they are humming along inside a machine that is slicing tiny portions and feeding it back. There's a warmth throughout the entire record that spills softly. At times this sounds like a lost record from the 70's hidden rock opera vault as peaked at in tracks like "Winter Sleep" with its Craig Armstrong-like overtures and ambient texturing. Dawn McCarthy's voice is a lovely addition that makes for something brightly birdlike. As I listen the sounds fade away, on the romanticized "Equilibrium is Restored." It's a passage to a small gazebo in a forest, among nature, a recital with passing minstrels, and light faire. Ekvílibríum is a floating and dreamy record that suggests taking a much needed, contemplative pause from our advertising saturated, overproduced daily speed culture. Charming.

________

from BOOMKAT

VALGEIR SIGURDSSON - Ekvilibrium

BEDROOM COMMUNITY

Ace producer Valgeir Sigurdsson has had a hand in the recent outpourings of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and his Icelandic compatriot Bjork. Just dropping those two names should be enough to give you some idea of how good a producer this guy is. After hearing Bjork's Medulla you'd assume that Valgeir was some electronic whiz kid, but by the time Will Oldham's The Letting Go dropped there was ample evidence to suggest that he was equally at home recording in a predominantly acoustic context. The same high definition warmth that characterized those projects is cast over Sigurdsson's solo debut, an album for all connoisseurs of recorded sound, marrying exceptional electronic detail with real instrumentation on a grand scale. Being the studio high-flyer he is, Sigurdsson gets to call in favours from modern classical composer Nico Muhly (who contributes on piano), Faun Fables' Dawn McCarthy and the aforementioned Will Oldham, lending his vocals to two tracks here. The first of the Oldham-sung pieces ('Evolution Of Waters') is a real spa treatment for the ears, loaded with gorgeous strings, scuttling pitter-pat beats and chiming music box melodies. Instrumental piece 'Focal Point' works on a similar set of principles, with an unprecedented crispness and clarity of sound at the essence of its success. Slightly more amorphous soundscaping characterizes the middle section of the album, with 'After Four' and 'Equilibrium is Restored' converging on a richly layered ocean of sonic texture. The Dawn McCarthy collaboration 'Winter Sleep' takes the album to operatic levels of orchestral melodrama, only for the scale to gracefully shrink on the chamber piece for strings 'Before Nine'. Ekvilibrium stretches far beyond showcasing Sigurdsson's studio prowess, it proves he's an artist to be reckoned with in his own right.

________

BEAT CONSTRUCTION - MAN AND MACHINE

Valgeir Sigurdsson’s artful integrations.

from THE FADER MAGAZINE

Valgeir Sigurdsson first glimpsed the possibilities in being a music producer as a teenager in Iceland, when he connected the dots between beloved albums by Roxy Music, U2, David Bowie and more experimental records like Ambient 1; Music for Airports and Here Come the Warm Jets. He realizes that they all led back to one exceedingly brilliant, bald visionary named Brian Eno. "I really liked the way he worked with other bands" Sigurdsson says. "The way he incorporated his sound, but also took their sound further."

After cutting his teeth on four albums by Björk, Sigurdsson decided that it was time to strike out in new directions. Most recently, he has produced and engineered albums for Will Oldham, CocoRosie, classically trained composer Nico Muhly and avant-garde electronic musician Ben Frost, drawing the artists to his home studio in Reykjavík.

In June, Sigurdsson will also release his first album of solo material on Bedroom Community, his newly minted label. Ekvílibríum is a synthesis of elements that have surfaced in Sigurdsson's other projects, but here they are given full stage. There are bouncy, flickering beats, the symphonic touches, the use of acoustic instruments in ambient soundscapes and the electronic washes. The album is also interspersed with vocal performances from past collaborators like Oldham, Faun Fables' Dawn McCarthy and Machine Translations' J Walker, but in settings that are very much the producer's own.

And while Sigurdsson is known for making heavily textured electronic soundscapes and beats, it is the human performance he says, that resonates with him most deeply. The strength of Ekvílibríum - as with all of Sigurdsson's projects - is in the organic way he weds the electronic to the human. If the artists that Sigurdsson works with have something in common, it's that they are not afraid of big emotions, and Sigurdsson uses his technical expertise to spotlight them. Nowhere is this clearer than on Oldham's recent album (released under his Bonnie 'Prince' Billy moniker), The Letting Go, where Sigurdsson's studio choices give expression to the full emotional possibilities of Oldham's songs. The interplay of electronic squalls with dramatic string arrangements, manipulated drum textures, plaintive harmonies and theatrical lyrics pushes Oldham's sound into spaces it had never previously been.

The result is a singular album, as ornate as it is direct.

- Alex Waxman

________

from FOXY DIGITALIS

Valgeir Sigurdsson "Ekvilibrium"

Bedroom Community

rating 8/10

The country of Iceland with its 300.000 inhabitants has bred more talented musicians than tons of cities of the same size. Obviously, there´s way more to it than Björk, Sigur Ros and mùm, but it seems that in one way or another many of the other great artists coming from Iceland have some kind of connection to one of the three before mentioned. In the case of Valgeir Sigurdsson, the connection is with Björk whose albums “Vespertine” and “Medulla” were partly produced, mixed and engineered by Sigurdsson.

Sigurdsson also worked as a producer on the latest Cocorosie album and produced “The Letting Go” by Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Returning that favor, Will Oldham also sings on two songs on “Ekvilibrium”, the first solo album by Valgeir Sigurdsson. “Ekvilibrium” is a classic “producer” album and while such albums can turn out a mediocre collection of known voices backed by average electronic beats (as in the case of later albums by U.N.K.L.E. or Faultline), Valgeir Sigurdsson has found a good balance between incorporating known voices and presenting his own handwriting.

Among the guests featured on “Ekvilibrium” (next to Oldham) are J. Walker aka Machine Translations, Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables, Warren Ellis of Dirty Three as well as several Icelanders who partly also played on “The Letting Go”. On some songs it does not work perfectly and the tunes sound like fairly unspectacular downtempo that could also have been produced by any Chill Out compilation producer. The good songs on “Ekvilibrium”, however, are so perfectly melancholic, yet at the same time giving hope. Especially impressive is the suite of four songs ending the album. First, there is the 8-minute “Equilibrium Is Restored” which slowly moves forward and lets the listener lose every sense for time and space. The short “Before Nine” full of strings follows and melds into “Kin” featuring Will Oldham at his best and most introverted. It all culminates in the last song “Lungs, For Merrilee” which begins with some nice piano playing by Sigurdsson who is backed by his string ensemble of Una Sveinbjarnadóttir, Jónina Auour Hilmarsdóttir and Hrafnkell Orri Egilsson. This song, although without vocals is so intimate and touching, it just needs to be played back again and again.

8/10 --

Stephan Bauer (5 September, 2007)

________

from The Silent Ballet

Valgeir Sigurdsson - Ekvilibrium

Bedroom Community

Score: 7/10

Ekvilibrium, the debut album by Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurdsson, opens with "A Symmetry," a track whose glitchy beats, strange rhythms, and familiar instrumentation will immediately conjure images of Bjork.  This isn’t an imagined likeness, however, as Sigurdsson has been a producer and collaborator of that lovable Scandinavian for almost a decade, as well as working with such varying talents as Will Oldham, Múm, and Scottish producer Howie B.  Ordinarily, I would try to avoid playing up such a connection, but on this, the debut of a high-profile producer and full of guest contributions, it seems impossible to characterize without putting it in context.

Alternating between instrumental and vocal tracks, Ekvilibrium is a polystylistic blending of techniques, making use of both traditional instruments and means, as well as digital wizardry and programming one would expect from Sigurdsson.   The album undergoes several metamorphoses, and although it doesn’t ever fully evolve into a coherent whole, it somehow manages to achieve a kind of singularity.  At times he makes due with very little en route to producing positively beautiful compositions, such as the track "Equilibrium is Restored."  On other tracks, however, he pulls out all the stops and makes use of all he has at his disposal.  Luckily for him, this includes illustrious friends, such as Dawn McCarthy, of Faun Fable, and Will Oldham, both of whom contribute vocals, and the composer Nico Muhly, who lends the record his piano playing. 

The programming/production style can be reminiscent of bands such as the Books, World’s End Girlfriend, and even Radiohead at times, having a sort of collage vibe. Unlike some of the aforementioned artists, however, we see here more recognizable song structures and  prominent use of vocals.  There are some really neat production tricks, which make it a good headphone album. The rhythm made out of dripping water in "Winter Sleep," for instance, stands out as a subtlety better appreciated at a close listen.

Although clearly a talented producer, and this is where he shines, Sigurdsson has demonstrated that he is also a competent  and talented songwriter. This may be a matter of taste, however, but it seems to me that his music sounds much better accompanied by a female voice.  Oldham’s tracks work, but, like the instrumental tracks, don’t sound as complete as when females vocals take the reign.   “Winter Sleep,” the collaboration with Dawn McCarthy mentioned above, is therefore the standout track, showcasing Sigurdsson’s creativity as a producer and composer.

Ekvilibrium is an interesting debut from one of modern rock’s most unique producers.  Given the space to branch out, Sigurdsson shows that he can make his own music, while refining a style that is still clearly his own, recognizable despite the great variety of artists he has collaborated with in the past.

-Joseph Sannicandro

________

From Touching Extremes

VALGEIR SIGURÐSSON - Ekvílíbrium ( Bedroom Community)

Every once in a while, a lovely "commercial" release comes forth on the reviewer's desk, only to be declared "not exactly commercial" after two or three listenings. Let me be perfectly clear: throughout my life I've been loving pop records like no one can - I mean, the really good ones - therefore I'm never averse to one hour of divertissement placed in between torrents of earth loops and cascades of stridency. Valgeir Sigurðsson's CD, though, reveals a touch of obliqueness amidst the most relaxing materials that transforms every session in a refreshing discovery of new particulars that you missed the previous time. Ten tracks, six instrumentals and four with vocalists (Bonnie Prince Billy, Dawn McCarthy and J.Walker/Machine Translations), whose skeleton at times looks techno-fied almost to the excess (like in the opener "A symmetry") yet designed with millimetric precision and care for the microscopic detail that go along very well with delicate, warmly wrapping string arrangements, my overall favourite being heard in "Evolution of Waters" (in this case by the author himself, while in "Winter sleep" and "Kin" they were penned by the excellent Nico Muhly, who plays in these and other pieces of the album). This "natural-but-strange-anyway" aura takes the sophistication factor out of the equation, so that "Ekvílíbrium" can be roughly defined as a mixture of Scott Walker, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Pastels and (put your drum'n'bass choice name here) with crippled overtones appearing in selected moments, as to remind us that sugar and honey aren't necessary.