Múm
Summer Make Good

THE REVIEW

"101 Reykjavik"
I see this movie title and I rush to watch it. I try to understand what happens on that stamp of land torn from the sea by the force of volcanoes. Iceland attracts me, with that upside-down Norwegian flag. That nation where streets have no name and the areas of the capital have numbers, where you experience the eternal contrast of ice melting into scorching lava. Icelandic musicians, like the directors of the film I mentioned, seem to act unbounded by any contamination. The result is a kind of dadaism and experimentation that is hard for anyone to match. Like the Sigur Ròs who captured and uprooted me from my world made of distorted guitars. I must say, I like Mùm less than Sigur Ròs, because perhaps they experiment less, they come across a little more flat. Nevertheless, they are intriguing with all those sounds that have a Christmas atmosphere... Two women (...dottir) and two men (...son). Now I see if on GoooOOOooooOOOgle I can find their names:

Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason
Gyða Valtýsdóttir
Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir
Gunnar Örn Tynes

This is their third "real" album after the splendid (and highly recommended) "Finally We Are No One" and the debut "Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is Ok". I say real because they've made some albums in Icelandic and other remixes. Their sound is hard to define, I would say that it seems like the Sigur Ròs of "Hlemmur" or the Mogwai of "CODY" but with fewer ideas. One of the two girls sings whispering, which in the long run is a bit irritating. This album perhaps lacks a ballad like Green Grass Of Tunnel that delighted the second album. After a washed-out intro (one repeatedly turns up the volume to see if something happens...), the album has a fairly lively first part. There is always the Lappish kling-klang as a background and the whispered voice on the instruments. Then, towards the end, the album becomes a bit repetitive and it's hard to maintain concentration.

Compared to the last release, it loses something; those who appreciated them before may be disappointed. My impression is that it's meditative music, difficult to separate from our Icelandic imagination. I imagine sitting by the window of my little house in Reykjavik, watching the snow mixed with rain fall outside, in the dim light of the early afternoon, enjoying a cinnamon tea. The music coming out of Iceland now, excluding Bjork, has that flavor of suspension in void space-time. Think of the Bang Gang, Gus Gus. They deserve 3 stars, I add one for affection.