Nothing But Music.(Sigur Ros)(Brief Article)

The sun had set more than seven hours earlier over the desolate main drag of Mosfellsbaer, Iceland. But inside the town's tiny one-room tavern at about 10 p.m., the entertainment was just beginning. Seated at six long candlelit tables, customers threw back shots of schnapps and picked over the remains of a traditional Viking feast: rotted shark, lamb brains and pieces of ram's testicles. Cheers rose up as a stout, bearded middle-aged man in a tightly buttoned vest strode solemnly to the microphone and began to recite poetry.

It was a typically Icelandic scene. Ever since the 12th century, farmers and fishermen have been helping their neighbors through the dark, lonely winters by singing poetic verse known as rimur. But there was nothing typical about the local backup band that took their places behind the poet. As the raconteur described vast glaciers and rivers of lava, Sigur Ros added thumping bass notes and the haunting whalelike sounds of a bow rubbed across the face of a Gibson Les Paul guitar. The bass picked up, accompanied by thrashing cymbals, expansive keyboard chords and the plaintive falsetto of the lead singer, Jon (Jonsi) Thor Birgisson.

Sigur Ros's music was as elegant and naked as the vast steppes that begin just outside Mosfellsbaer. But its impact is being felt thousands of miles away. In the past two years the band has put Iceland on the map as one of the world's hottest new musical incubators. Their first album, "Agaetis Byrjun," touched off a fierce bidding war. MCA Records won and began marketing the album in the United States. It has made it onto many of the industry's most prestigious top 10 lists and prompted a steady stream of talent scouts from New York and Los Angeles. At least five other Icelandic bands have signed with major labels, and more are expected to do so. "There's always been a buzz because of [Icelandic pop star] Bjork, but it only kicked into hyperdrive when Sigur Ros hit," says Leigh Lust, a top record talent scout at Elektra Entertainment Group. "The floodgates are now open."

Whether the little island becomes the next Seattle (where scores of grunge bands were signed in the early 1990s) depends on what happens next. Sigur Ros's recent acclaim has yet to translate into massive commercial success. Record-industry ...