What images come to mind when you hear the name... "Iceland"?

I am guessing the folks that make up the Icelandic Department of Tourism" (IDT) have not only asked a similar question, but have speculated the response you just formed.

[Enter Sigur Rós.]

If this Icelandic band has yet to mesmerize American culture viatheir ambient sound, they certainly have the opportunity to do so through their poetic imagery. [Cue Arni and Kinski]. Sigur Rós, named after lead singer, Jónsi Birgisson's, younger sister Sigurrós,is the compilation of a rare breed of musicians who are experimenting with both a pure and somewhat "wholistic" approach to music production. "Pure" in the sense that their creative process is stripped from agenda (or any talking for that matter). It's organic. Show up. Play. See what happens. "Wholistic" in the sense that the group lends themselves to"experience" over product.

currently transfering article...

There are a handful of questions out there that would land in the "Big Questions" category. What's the meaning of life? Who am I? Life after death? Ben Gibbard is no stranger to questions of the sort and certainly does not shy away on the Plans album.

"Someday You Will Be Loved" is a story of abandonment. It's a story of brokeness. It's a story of pursuit... of hope.

Gibbard writes...

You may feel alone when you're falling asleep
And everytime tears roll down your cheeks
But I know your heart belongs to someone you've yet to meet
Someday you will be loved. 

You'll be loved you'll be loved
Like you never have known

If in fact, humanity continually shows up to the world with questions (big or small) to be answered, is this not one of the big ones? Can I experience love at a level that I have yet to experience - "more than I never have known known"?

Seems to be a question that shapes our general experiences. Seems to be a question Gibbard is intrigued by. Seems to be a question we are all intrigued by. Maybe, the real is why?

Death Cab for Cutie - Someday You Will Be Loved

Recently I found out that my wife and I had a substantial amount of our retirement savings invested in a company that was indirectly funding the genocide in Darfur. It appears that for a couple years now our future comfort was being insured by the oppression and killing of thousands of African men, woman and children. As I sat at my dinning room table with my own one year old son on my lap, I wept.

What do we do with people we don't understand?
What does it look like to live a life that cannot be overcome?

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

- John 1v5

This is one of the verses in the Bible that have a footnote. Perched on the end of the word 'overcome' is a little ‘a’ that asks the reader to let their eyes drop to the bottom of the page where another translation of the Greek word katelben is given. There we find that what reads ‘overcome,’ could also read ‘understood.’

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it."

If you happened to catch a U2 show during their last tour (Vertigo), you were likely introduced to the experimental sounds of Arcade Fire - perhaps unbeknowngst to you. Prior to their entrance, U2 made a decision to prep their audiences with an amped version of "Mr. Bright Side" (The Killers) followed by the intense choral sounds of "Wake Up" (Arcade Fire). If you were fortunate enough to experience the show more than once (I'm slightly obsessive), it would have been difficult to head home and not explore what was behind the seemingly perfect intro song.

"Wake Up" is a prominent track on the group's "official" debut album, Funeral (2004), which aside from earning a Grammy nomination - was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of its year. As it is rare for any artist/group in the music industry to earn any significant respect until their "sophomore" album, Neon Bible (March 2007) was a highly anticipated release.

Although Neon Bible is a strong follow-up to Funeral musically, it is the lyrics that have grabbed the attention of many (including myself).

So, what is the Neon Bible?

There are a select few musicians that possess a undeniably unique sound. Each decade has owned a few as a handful come to mind: Elvis, Aretha Franklin, John Lennon, John Fogerty, Steven Tyler, Steve Perry, Eddie Vedder, Bono, and maybe even Chris Martin these days. Though Tom Waits would certainly fit snug within this subset of artists, he is often overlooked on a handful of levels. A prolific songwriter, Waits has released over 20 albums with his growl-like voice that has in return earned him the company of two Grammys. Waits’ music is often recognized more-so via the prominent musicians that has covered his work - Springsteen with “Jersey Girl” and Rod Stewart with “Downtown Train” to name a couple. After scoring his first soundtrack with film icon Francis Ford Coppola, with One from the Heart (received Academy Award nomination), he has spent a significant portion of his career in the film industry - not only as a musician but actor (Coffee and Cigarettes, The Fisher King, Dracula).

It seems a silly thing to rank people in this way, but an argument could easily be made that Richard Ashcroft is one of the greatest Searchers of our day. Before he was out on his own, his band, 'The Verve,' recorded albums entitled: A Northern Soul, A Storm In Heaven & Urban Hymns. But the touching points with faith don't end there. The lyrics of their songs are filled with questions, hopes, dreams and fears.

Bittersweet Symphony, one of the great songs of all time, was both the highest and lowest point for the band. A symphonic sample used in the song was said to be the property of The Rolling Stones and therefore was used illegally by The Verve. The song was nominated for song of the year in the midst of all this and the loss of the song and its profits (it was credited to Jagger and Richards) was ultimately the end of the band.

God's Gonna Cut You Down (Johnny Cash). Here's a music video that has perplexed us from the day it was released. In fact, the shear fact that it has us debating earned it the "most mysterious" music video label in our "Top 25 Music Videos of 2006" write-up. The background on this video only makes it more bizarre. If you were to make a list of top 10 artist that are completely opposite of Johnny Cash, Justin Timberlake would be one of them; however, Timberlake is exactly the one who birthed the idea of this video via a conversation with Rick Rubin, who produced the album, American V , in which the song resides. The concept then moved forward through collaboration with Mark Romanek (director of Cash's Hurt) and controversial British director Tony Kaye, who ended up officially directing the video.

Here's the deal. On one hand, it's a tad annoying. You can imagine the conversation: Timberlake: "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we got some A-listers to be in a Cash video? say... myself?" Kaye: "Yeah, and then we can make it look all artsy like your 99 Problems (Jay-Z) video, Mark. That cool?"

On the other hand, line the images of these artists, actors, and actresses and everything they represent midst the lyrics and the distinct and powerful voice of Cash and you have some significant yet enigmatic irony. As many might despise the overt use of celebritism midst this video, you cannot escape the notion that there is some "identification" taking place within this traditional song - both from the performers and the viewer... And thus the mystery. Why?

(note: Cash did not write this song; it’s an old traditional song.)