Sigur Ros: Meo suo i eyrum vio spilum endalaust (EMI)

The good thing about this being disappointing is that I doubt I'll have to type the album title (which apparently means "with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly") too many times.
After their oblique sonic landscapes and the superb CD/DVD Heima, this time out these post-rock Icelandic musicians have gone for more economic "songs" in many places (11 tracks in total) and while they still traverse similar widescreen territory very little here reaches the sonic heights of their earlier work.
Doubtless some will disagree and hear in tracks such as the nine minute, orchestrated and choral-enchanced Ara batur a band prepared to shift its ground considerably. That is true, but over the long haul little here is as engaging or entrancing as they have often been.
Yes, this is more grounded in being recorded quicker and in small studios. And yes, they do sing in English for the first time.
But ironically in his age when people prefer "the authentic", Sigur Ros sounded better when their inspired music was held at an emotional distance.