One thing that becomes abundantly clear while listening to Heim is how important Amiina is to Sigur Rós. The all-female string quartet (who released a rather fantastic album of their own, Kurr, earlier this year) lends such a fullness to the sound, it’s hard to imagine Sigur Rós without them. Touring with this extremely talented group has always benefited Sigur Rós, and that is never more evident than when listening to a live performance.

Despite being recorded at different times, the tracks on Heim flow together perfectly. It’s a nice look at the various incarnations of the band over the years. “Starálfur” and “Ágætis Byrjun” are piano-heavy, “Samskeyti” and “Heysátan” are string-driven and “Vaka” is carried by Birgisson’s vocals. The gorgeous “Von” makes another appearance on this disc, and although it’s better on the first disc, the acoustic version is nice too. Sigur Rós excels at utilizing a variety of sounds, and Heim makes it evident how well they do so.

Ultimately, Hvarf-Heim is a lot more than just the sum of its parts. It is kind of a filler release, but it’s an excellent filler release. This is a great collection of songs, and would be the perfect introduction to Sigur Rós for the uninitiated. It’s not absolutely necessary listening, but this is a worthwhile album and deserves some attention. Besides, can you ever get enough of the soaring beauty that is Sigur Rós? I think not.