Ágætis Byrjun ('A Good Beginning') was the album that introduced the world to the unique, haunting musical style of Sigur Rós, transforming the global image of Icelandic music.

Ágætis byrjun ("A good beginning") is the record that announced Sigur Rós to the world. With a momentous sound, featuring acoustic strings alongside grumbling guitar distortion, it struck at the hearts of listeners around the world. But something else happened, too. When Ágætis byrjun landed on the desks of UK and US critics, it stirred up an awful lot of talk about elves and the Northern lights as journalists searched for ways to make sense of this unique musical style. Sigur Rós were soon trapped in exoticist rhetoric and romanticized images of the far North. The sounds of the bowed electric guitar and the band's incomprehensible lyrics were taken as 'sonic evidence' of an enchanted place defined by natural forces. The music –and the discourse it sparked– would go on to redefine the image of Iceland in the cultural imagination.
Tore Størvold explains how Ágætis byrjun appeared at the right time, and with the right sounds, to bolster narratives of a wondrous island of 'natural' creativity, a story that today is embraced by the Icelandic tourism industry. However, for all the talk of nature, this album was not created on a glacier but in a city. Therefore, Størvold must first clear a path through the thicket of mythology and provide a down-to-earth account of the bands early years in Reykjavík and the musical experimentation that lead to the good beginning.