Artists: 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Múm - Finally We Are No One

Right now we’ve got all the superfluous nonsense out of the way how about we actually focus on the music? Crazy though this may sound.

I bought this CD with no real preconceptions about this band, I had had no real experience of them up until this point (they may have been on in the background once or twice at parties…yes, odd parties), a friend recommended I buy this album, so I did (trusting fellow that I am). Wow, what a recommendation is all I can say. This is simply a gorgeous piece of music, it sounds fragile, beautiful, disconcerting, happy, sad, angry and above all melodious in large chrome spoonfuls. It entwines glitch-filled beats with simple but exquisite vocals and haunting instrumentation.

The album opens with “sleep/swim”, a short burst of bubbling, ethereal synth-lines that washes into “green grass of tunnel”, for me one of the standout tracks on the album, a dusty, pretty tune, it impresses me how much emotion múm manage to shoe-horn into 4 and a bit minutes without ever really changing the riff, clever instrumentation prevents anything from getting repetitive. They seem to know just how far they can loop something before a dynamic or instrumental change will introduce a whole new feel to proceedings. The track manages to combine an overall feeling of peace and joy with a slight sense of menace (or this may just be my fear of twin girls, damn you ‘the shining’, damn you, ruined that one for me didn’t ya!). “Green grass of tunnel” segways into “we have a map of the plane” (probably my other noticeable standout from the album), similar in feel to “green grass…” a delayed piano line floats tinkling in the background while the drums jitter away to the side and the guitar slides in and out of hearing. This song displays some of múm’s ability to use unusual instruments for their own purposes as an accordion (!) suddenly makes an appearance, but instead of destroying the ambience this just adds to the overall mood.

The album continues in a similar vein, it could be said that they, at times, get a little mired in repetition of the same formula but to be honest who cares when that formula is so undeniably pleasant to the ears. As the album unfolds they introduce some more “traditional” electronica moments (“Don’t Be Afraid, You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed”) and some more sumptuous moments of melodic inspiration (“now there’s that fear again” and “k/half noise” especially). It is difficult to imagine music like this actually being written, it seems more that it has always existed, it just needed dusting off and recording, as the drums spit and rattle, the synth drones and glitches and the fragile vocals ebb into hearing it is all too easy to simply close your eyes and disconnect from reality and for me that is exactly what I want music to do to me, stunning.

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