ALBUM REVIEW: The Never-Ending Year – VAR
In 2013, Júlíus Óttar opened the doors for his project VAR. Shortly after, he found himself realising that lighting the torch fully couldn’t be done fully without help. With any post-rock outfit, there’s a lot of layers that surround an idea to make it come to life, and this was no exception. With the help of his wife, Myrra Rós (synths, vocals) and his brother Egill Björgvinsson (bass) joining the band along with friends Arnór Jónasson (guitar) and Andri Freyr Þorgeirsson (drums), VAR released EP Vetur, a stunning piece that gained them a loyal fan base. Now with a slightly different different line-up seeing Rós and Þorgeirsson part ways, and drummer Sigurður Ingi Einarsson joining, a new spark has ignited within VAR, and has given life to The Never-Ending Year.
From the second the album opens up, Moments blasts in with nothing held back. There’s this immediate emotion that takes hold, and each element layers up in an elegant fashion before stripping down slowly for Óttar‘s vocals to take centre stage. There’s a softness in his voice that sweeps across, and even as each element gets added back in, that tone remains creating a perfect balance. That balance remains, even in the more energising songs such as Run and Where To Find You. It shows an excellent example of how sometimes you don’t need to push your voice to be heard.
The same can be applied to the music elements that The Never-Ending Year has. Drowning is a stunning piece of music that is just over two-minutes long, and features a simplistic melody on piano, and subtle sounds in the background that create a soundscape fit the name of the song. There’s little dramatisation to get anything across, and it elevates the fact that less can indeed be more.
This isn’t to say that VAR have taken a simple approach at all with their sound, each song has been carefully thought out and it holds its own complexities. By The Ocean is layered up with a lot of repetition, but as each part gets added on, it shows that by using these techniques, something experimental and again, complex, can come out of it. The way VAR have this ability to fit everything together like a jigsaw is truly mesmerising.
One of the key things to note about The Never-Ending Year is that it is a highly emotive album, and it is something to listen to when you’re in the right frame of mood. When each song flows into the next, it’s like a road with no exits, you’re in it for the long haul and regardless of how much you feel, you don’t want to get off either. Highlands definitely shows itself as one of the most powerful songs on the album in terms of evoking those feelings, alongside the album closer, Still I Miss You. The way the former graces into the latter like smoke in a breeze, it cannot be faulted in any way.
It’s strange, because all throughout this album, there is a contrast. There’s soft and heavy, slow and fast, simple and complex, but above all, light and dark. The aforementioned emotion is truly at times heartbreaking, but on the flip there is a side that is so light you feel at peace, like there’s hope. How VAR have done it, is down to pure talent, and a clear passion for what they do. This isn’t just an an album, it’s a piece of art that can be interpreted in any form, and that is the real beauty about the post-rock genre.
Iceland, for the tiny island that it is, holds a massive amount of talent in the music world. It doesn’t matter what genre these artists make, but somehow it appears as of late nobody there who creates music can put a foot out of place. VAR are up there, and if they continue with releases such as Vetur and The Never-Ending Year, they will be cherished everywhere, something they rightly deserve.
Rating: 10/10
The Never-Ending Year is out now via Spartan Records.
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