Iceland has been for years a fertile ground for unconventional musicians. After the Sugarcubes and Björk, Gus Gus and more recently Sigur Rós, Múm is now proving to be the freshest act to hail from the North Atlantic isle. Formed in 1997 after Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason spotted Gyða and Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, then aged 15, during a concert of the band they used to be in, Múm is the unlikely combination of four diverging talents. Gunnar started playing music on his old Amiga, producing hardcore techno, while Örvar discovered the joys of electronic music when his parents bought a computer and he needed some music for a video game he had just written. With the two classically trained twin sisters on board, Múm was ready to start exploring original ways of producing poetic electronic music.
After working on a series of impressive collaborations, culminating with Icelandic poet Andri Snaer Magnason in 1999, the band finally released their first proper material on the Reykjavik based Thule Musik record label with a first EP, The Ballad Of The Broken Birdie Records, and a critically acclaimed album, Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK, which gained them praises and recognition across the board. The band’s second album, Finally We Are No One, released on the excellent Fat Cat Records, sees Múm pursuing their exploration of beautiful organic soundscapes. Once again, Múm cleverly mix complex electronic structures and acoustic instruments, to create songs as fragile and ephemeral as sand castles. The stunning Green Grass Of Tunnel, released as a single ahead of the album, provides an intense opening to Finally We Are No One. Sparkling wind chimes open the track, before a slightly old-fashioned keyboard line kicks in, weaving the melodic line that will follow the vocals all the way through. The delicate structures assembled by Múm display the same intimate character as Boards Of Canada’s blissful compositions. The apparently simple, almost child-like, melodies are swathed in dense atmospheric waves of warm sounds and delicate beats, with voices intermittently adding to the dreamy soundscapes, as on the gorgeous We Have A Map Of The Piano, K/Half Noise or Now There’s That Fear Again, to reach an ultimate Eden-like musical territory.
With this second album, Múm offer another brilliant slice of innovative electronic music, inviting people to leave behind the real world and embrace their own euphoric vision. The quartet continues their exploration of sound and atmospheres by feverishly applying little touches of colour on their musical canvas. Beautifully essential.