This is why we should be thankful for the nation of Iceland:

It provides us numerous performers like Björk, Sigur Rós, and Múm who create classical music relevant for our times. Not chamber music in the traditional sense. Instead, they meld the innermost sensibilities of classical, which are the invasion of our minds by the sheer melodic manipulation of instruments and our modern-day aesthetic of cyber-technology. The genre which can be labeled the "Icelandic instrumental" is the classical symphony of our modern age, expressed in the musical language of tempered electronica where our existentialist, post-human, and spiritual selves can only understand.

To this tribe we add Denmark-based Efterklang. Who may not hail from Iceland, but the Scandinavian influence is definitely found in its similar philosophy and devices of deliberate instrumentation and computer technology to create atmospherics of desolation. Incidentally, the ten-piece outfit features Sigur Rós' own Amina string quartet.