Sigur Rós excels at translating pure feeling into music; frontman Jónsi made up the language Vonlenska (Hopelandic in English) as “a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument.” Vonlenska is a non-literal language, without fixed syntax, and differs from constructed languages that can be used for communication. It focuses entirely on the sounds of language; lacking grammar, meaning, and even distinct words.Somewhat similarly, artists hum future vocalisations over instrumentals; other times they scat their way through a verse. An entire song done this way escapes constricting words in favor of the mood over the literal.
Like much of the product from Sigur Rós and Jónsi, energy and spirit are conveyed through frenetic instrumentation; accompanying lyrics only add to the celestial noise. Without the specific meaning that derives from comprehensible words, listeners are free to fill in the lyrics with their own imagining. The listener is given the opportunity to interpret their own meanings of the lyrics which can then be written in the blank pages in the album booklet.
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