Monday, June 18, 2012

Sigur Rós: The Valtari Mystery Film Experiment Features Strangeness, Nudity, Mosquitoes and a Lot More

Sigur Rós Valtari

Updated: New videos will be added whenever they are released.

Thanks to a female friend who does share a liking for good music, I have come to discover Sigur Rós during the time when I was fed up of Enya and wanted to listen for some other artists of the same genre. She suggested I would take some time and listen to the said band's music and Boom! I was hooked immediately.

I procured a copy of their albums and that was bliss for some time, until their latest album, Valtari, was released. This band from Iceland just saved my failing life with their newest music -- all symphonic and weird. Now as a collective artistic effort, the said band put up The Valtari Mystery Film Experiment. Two to three videos are going to be released every month starting May, coinciding with the album's release, and will conclude on December.

So far there are 8 videos from contributors, plus one other. Check out the output of the said project which features strange dining, nudity from Shia LaBeouf and more:

Ekki Múkk
Moving Artwork. Video by Inga Birgisdóttir.

Video #1: Ég Anda
Released May 25. Film by Ragnar Kjartansson.

Video #2: Varúð
Released June 6. Film by Inga Birgisdóttir.

Video #3: Fjögur Píanó
Released June 18. Film by Alma Har'el.

Video #4: Rembihnútur
Released July 2. Film by Arni & Kinski.

Video #5: Ég Anda
Released July 16. Film by Ramin Bahrani.

Video #6: Varúð
Released July 30. Film by Ryan McGinley.

Video #7: Varðeldur
Released August 13. Film by Melika Bass

Video #8: Dauðalogn
Released August 13. Film by Henry Jun Wah Lee

Video #9: Seraph feat. Rembihnútur and Ekki múkk
Released September 12. Film by Dash Shaw & John Cameron Mitchell

Video #10: Ekki múkk
Released September 24. Film by Nick Abrahams

Video #11: Dauðalogn
Released October 8. Film by Ruslan Fedotow
People's Choice Winner of the Competition

Video #12: Fjögur Píanó
Released October 15. Film by Anafelle Lui
Overall Winner of the Competition

Video #13: Varðeldur
Released October 22. Film by Clare Langan

Video #14: Valtari
Released November 13. Film by Christian Larson

Video #15: Varúð
Released November 20. Film by Björn Flóki

There will be a total of 17 videos to be expected from the project. The next videos are expected to be released in November and December and it's still a surprise which song will be featured. And as a bonus, here's a track on track commentary of the entire Valtari album:


This is what the band's official website has to say about the project: "Sigur rós have given a dozen film makers the same modest budget and asked them to create whatever comes into their head when they listen to songs from the band's new album Valtari. The idea is to bypass the usual artistic approval process and allow people utmost creative freedom. Among the filmmakers are Ramin bBahrani, Alma Har'el and John Cameron Mitchell.

"We never meant our music to come with a pre-programmed emotional response. We don’t want to tell anyone how to feel and what to take from it. With the films, we have literally no idea what the directors are going to come back with. None of them know what the others are doing, so hopefully it could be interesting."

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