there are those moments where someone, somewhere, says something that rings in your ears for days and months to come. lately i have been hearing the ringing again of words uttered by one of the guys from Sigur Rós. they played a show in GR at calvin college a few years back now. calvin has this great custom where they invite people to come to talk with the band before the show - this isn't a meet and greet - no pictures are taken, no autographing of body parts - just the members of the band and their fans listening to each other and exploring the layers of the music that will be played later that night.

i was one of the fifty or so people who showed up to hear from Jón Pór Birgisson, Georg Hólm and Orri Páll D˘rason about where this music comes from.

the line that keeps coming back to me from that time is a response that i believe Goerg gave to the question about why they didn't write lyrics to their first album (there are vocals, but they are just sounds, no words.) he said, "it seemed inappropriate to try and put words to these songs we had been playing for so long. we felt like it would take away, not add."

maybe this kind of wisdom comes form the fact that he was born in a place like iceland. it is a harsh and beautiful land. mountains meet the sea with dramatic cliffs and dark sand beaches. i can only imagine it is an intense place to live.

if you have ever been to the mountains or stood on the shore of the ocean, you know what it feels like to experience something that is beyond description - you know that there are things that are so majestic, so moving, so beautiful and full of glory, that to speak of them would be to take away, not add.

if you are a follower of the band, you may know about Heima, their november 5 release, a live dvd of last summer’s iceland tour. if you haven't laid your eyes on iceland before, here is your chance. thanks to excellent cinematography this is the next best thing to being there in person. check out a trailer here: http://emichrysalis.co.uk/sigurros/heima/film/heima_trailer.html

may you encounter Something today that defies description.