NPR

First Listen: Valgeir Sigurðsson, 'Dissonance'

Hear music both bleak and magisterial by an Icelandic composer and engineer who wields darkness into a singularly mesmerizing art.
Valgeir Sigurðsson's new album, <em>Dissonance</em>, comes out April 28.

Dissonance has been around as long as music itself, no doubt. Even the Bible talks of music with "loud crashing cymbals." And if you thought the classical era offered only tidy melodies, try the opening of 's oratorio , where the world is birthed in , or 's String Quartet No..

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