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.
5/5 |
