rating : 8.5 |
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I don't listen to a lot of electronica. There's already so many things to buy in the indie rock/pop
department. anyway. I stumbled on Múm's debut lp, "Yesterday was
Dramatic, Today is Ok" sometime last year and I fell in love with
it. Múm are a four piece band from Iceland, two guys and two lovely
twin sisters (the Valtýsdóttir sisters, they're on the cover of
Belle & Sebastian's "Fold your hands child...", contact
us if you know or are them) making beautiful warm electronic
music which
sounds like it's not made with computers but with wooden stuff. Wooden
electro. The Valtýsdóttir sisters play a wide
range of analog instruments (piano, accordion, violin, guitar,
glockenspiel...) and sing with cute fragile voices while the two guys
make some noise in the back with computers. Múm's greatest
achievement and singularity is this symbiosis between analog and
digital sound. The beginning of "Finally we are no one" is
shamelessly pop. "Green Grass of Tunnel" (first single)
almost sounds like what Stina Nordenstam could sound like if she chose
a good producer (i may not be totally objective about this, being
totally obsessed with "And She Closed her Eyes" at the
moment). But as surprising as it may sound these pop songs are not what i like best in this
cd.
I don't think it is honestly possible not to like them. Disarming
innocence. The instrumentals would make a great soundtrack to an
improbable Hayao Miyazaki remake of Peter Pan, with flying children
laughing in the background, playing hide & seek with friendly
ghosts and imaginary monsters. Mum's music sounds like it's made out
of pure careless innocence. It sounds like a tribute to the short Icelandic days, music for the
cold sun. But behind the
warmth of the melodies and arrangements lies unsuspected darkness. I guess you
could feel it better on "Yesterday was Dramatic, Today is
Ok" (listen to "Ballad of the Broken Birdie Records"), even though the second half of the album (starting with the
haunting "K/half noise") is darker than the first. "i
can't feel my hand anymore, it's allright, sleep still" is
impressive, the easiest and most obvious comparison would be Godspeed
You Black Emperor's most intense pieces. Múm have a lot in common
with GYBE!, musically speaking. They make "human" music,
using classical instruments, often reaching impressive intensity.
The (great)
last song on this (great) album, "The Land between Solar
System" makes me think of Angelo Badalamenti's score for Twin
Peaks. It has the same cold dreamy quality (with an extra angelic
voice and less 80ish gimmicks.) This is a great album, now go out, get
it and thank me for allowing you to pretend you're cool at parties
saying "oh, this reminds me of that band, you know, an Icelandic
band, with the girls on the cover of 'fold your hands child'..."
-Barbara H.