It's been three years since Sigur Rós' last album, but they've certainly been productive years for the band. Keeping themselves busy with movie soundtracks, music for ballet productions, and other assorted odds and sods, there's been a steady drip of new music for the dedicated fan of the band to track down and listen to. Still, most of the movie has been distinctly ambient, and in the case of the "Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do" EP, even descended into abstract drone. While the band do that sort of thing well enough, their specialty is music as grand and epic as their "Ágætis Byrjun" and "( )" albums. "Takk..." does not disappoint.

All of the Sigur Rós albums thus far have been different from one another, and this one is no exception. It's probably got the most in common with "Ágætis Byrjun", in that it's generally a happy, positive album, without the gloom that permeates "( )", and the avant-garde meanderings of "Von". The Hopelandic lyrics have largely been given the flick, replaced by Icelandic, which is at least a language that a small fraction of the band's following can understand. However, it's no mere replay of what has been their most successful album to date, featuring a lot less extended string pieces, and a lot more shorter, more accessible songs.

The term "shorter" is relative though, because half the songs on the new album still cross the six-minute mark. Among these are the lovely Glósóli, a song which reaches its climax with what sounds suspiciously like an electric guitar playing powerchords. Such a climax is something that the band has largely avoided before, so when it finally hits you, the effect is electric. It's also an excellent opener to the album, sort of like a mirror version of Popplagið, which closed their last album. Milanó is another lengthy track, the only one on the album to pass the ten minute mark, which gently rises and falls, like a leaf floating through the air on a breeze.

There are a few darker moments on this album, like Gong, which sounds frantic and anxious during its five minutes, with its stuttering percussion and fretful falsetto vocals. Sæglópur starts out innocently enough, with piano and glockenspiel, before massive washes of sound, like wind from a storm in the middle of the sea, wash all over everything. The orchestral tranquillity that concludes the track brings to mind the sun coming out after a storm, bringing light and warmth once more to a sailing ship that has just come through the tempest.

Other songs on the album have no sinister components whatsoever. These include Hoppíopolla, a gentle track that you can almost sing along to, which comes in under the five minute mark. If Sigur Rós are ever going to break their way into mainstream radio, it's going to be with this track, which is surely their most accessible piece of music to date.

I'd be hesitant to say that "Takk..." is the best album that the band have released to date, but it is definitely the most accessible. The songs don't blend into each other like they did on "Ágætis Byrjun", and some of them seem to lack a little of the personality that each individual track on that album had. On the other hand, the dirges and extended breaks that most people hated on "( )" are gone, so if you prefer the lighter, brighter side of this band, "Takk..." is an essential purchase. Just don't go expecting reruns of Olsen Olsen, and you'll be fine.