múm Album: “Summer Make Good [Digipak]”

I was disappointed with this album on first listen. I was knocked over by the depth and emotional intensity of "Finally we are no one" and after seeing the band perform several of the new tracks live prior to the release of "summer" I was expecting another 5 star release. While the band (minus one) have not quite reached the pinnacle of their previous effort, this record is subtly brilliant in it's own right. It creates a darker sense of romanticism and is not marked as much by the idyllic naivete that made the first and second records so charming. Gone are most of the pretty melodies, and the carefully built to crescendo arrangements. What remains is fragmented, misty, and somehow mildly disturbing. Given that it was recorded at a lighthouse, this imagery starts to make sense. The songs are very manipulated (and only vaguely resembling their "live" versions) - altered significantly from their acoustic form, and always peppered by a kind of digital "fog"; shifting, creaking, bending sounds that give the record it's atmosphere. I managed to pop it in on a particularly foggy northern california day and this is the perfect way to hear it.

Amid the hustle and bustle, Mum releases their third effort, Summer Made Good. As with the title, the album spots a slightly more uplifting mood compared to the sombre and cinematic Finally we Are No one.

There's less ambient sounds and electronica here. Instead you'll get more vocals on this album which mostly work to form a seamless connection but fails on one or two ocassions. Those used to their first two albums might be a little disappointed especially if you really love Finally.

No doubt there's still some nice lush instrumental tracks here to fall in love with.

Imagine a snowy, ice-crusted clearing, with the clear cold moon shining down on it. Now imagine a bunch of ghosts and otherworldly sprites creeping into the clearing, and singing like ominous children.

That about describes the wintry sound of "Summer Make Good," which tries out a very different sound for Icelandic band Múm -- more ambient, more vocal, and more melodic than electronic. Basically, the band sounds like the slightly creepy little sister of Sigur Ros... not that that's a bad thing at all.

It opens with "Hú Hviss - A Ship," which is pretty skippable -- it's basically a spooky horn and various creakings. But fortunately that moves into "Nightly Cares," a lullabyesque ballad with soft, ghostly vocals, and the icy, meandering electronica of "The Ghosts You Draw on My Back."

From there on, Mum noodle through expanses of ice, night, spaciness and static, with gently wandering melodies topped with electronic glitches. They dabble in more typical pop music in the crystalline "Island of Children's Child", but always slip back into music that sounds airy and creepy, with a sweep of electronica keeping the ambience grounded.

This is not an album to be comfortable to. Listen to it while you sleep, and you'll have dreams about being lost in the snow. Instead it's a long experiment, with vocals in all of their songs, and a more ambient, dreamlike sound that is usually associated with Sigur Ros.

It's very different from their previous work, but only occasionally does it fail to be good. The instrumentation is simply stunning and very creepy -- there's mellotron, synth, and soft drums and guitars gently wafting in and out. I never knew a banjo could sound so incredibly weird. The only weakness of this album is that in some of the shorter songs ("Away," for example) Mum sounds like they were just noodling for the sake of noodling.

This album is also notable for having vocals in pretty much all of the songs, save a few. I'm not sure who is singing, but it sounds like a ghostly little girl, or perhaps a wistful sprite. "... plays a sad old song/I hope tonight/You will touch my hair/and draw ghosts on my back," she croons over stretches of winding synth.

"Summer Make Good" is meant to be an experiment, and if its goal is to be wintry, sleepy and compelling, then it was a success. Just don't look for Mum's "usual" sound in this.

In Mùm's latest full length "Summer Make Good," we see the loveable children of Iceland branch out from their glitchy, static drenched electronic days, and acquire a purer, raw sound, relying on numerous acoustic instruments moreso than laptops. While not having the instant gratification of their previous recordings, the album still stands out from the crowd of similar acts such as Domotic. I admit that "Finally We Are No One" remains my favorite, as I guess it does for everyone else. My theory of this record not quite making the impact of its predecessor is the departure of 1/2 of the vocalists (that actually makes one) and the fact that too many hands touched it. While having additional musician appearances on a record can inhance the songs' strength, it sometimes can dillute signature elements and result in a sound of friends making songs and not the sound of a flawless record (saddle creek anyone?).

It's a great album though, with a powerful introduction in the first tracks that slowly blends to an atmospheric sailing toward a lullaby-esque completion. Recommended, but please be sure to check out the earlier material.

"Finally We Are No One" was excellent, if not near classic. "Yesterday Was Ok..." was thought-provoking and emotional, nostalgic music. "Please Smile My Nosebleed" was also largely remeniscent of old distorted memories of days gone by, with the golden 'On The Old Mountain Radio'. However, these feelings are quite lacking on "Summer Make Good". Instead, they are replaced by something... inexplainable.

Upon my purchase of "Summer Make Good", I was very much excited; I even bought the Limited Edition hardcover book version.

Let me tell you this: The book is just gorgeous. I was blown away by the old authentic textured cover. I drooled over the old, inksplattered pages, lapped up the words, stared dreamilly into the photographs and pictures and drawings, I took in that new-old-book smell, And because of this, I fell into that quiet, paraconscious mood that you have to be in to fully appreciate an electronica / electro-alternative / neo-classical album.

But even with all my enthusiasm and preparation, something just does not sit right with this disc. Although she has a lovely voice, the '-dottir' singer overdoes it a bit. I think this album is to Mum what "Hotel" is to Moby; boldly finding a renewed urge to sing on almost every track. In some part this has to be applauded, I guess, but what both these artists fail to understand is that they initially built their loyal worldwide fanbase primarilly because there is no contextual restriction or language barrier imposed on predominently INSTRUMENTAL music. Sing in a song, and you immediately restrict it's meaning and interpretation. You also narrow your audience to mainly those people who can understand the language you are singing in (not always, but often). This is not to say that I don't enjoy lyrics in music. 90% of my CDs are lyrical. But where artists so often got it right doing things all instrumentally, it becomes very hard for the venture into vocal-driven tracks not to turn out wrong. Exceptions for Mum are the gorgeous "Green Grass Of Tunnel" from "Finally..." in which the singing had a simple and easilly memorised melody of it's own.

I hope that Mum find their meaning mainly in the music again on their next album, and not so much on the vocals, which, as harsh as it sounds, were quite second-rate here. Apart from that, the album is indeed dripping with athmosphere: darker than their past two, and more abstract. However, the record evokes curiosity rather than melancholy, and unease rather than comfort. Again, this doesn't make for easily memorable listening. However, with all of this in mind, I still boost the rating up to four stars mainly due to the sheer beauty and effort that went into creating the book. If you do get this album, make sure you get the limited edition. It definitely makes up where the CD is lacking, and helps to put you in the right frame of mind for the CD, even though the CD is not quite as timeless as the pages.