mum - summer make good
the sounds of the old versus the new.
there are quite a few set ups at the moment mixing ultra modern sounds with arcane musical instruments, with the results being completely genre free. electronica, dance, ambient, rock, folks, polka - mum too are in this unclassifiable league all are relevant at some point throughout this bewitching album. this second album from the icelandic gang falls into several of the above pigeon holes and slides out when ever the urge arises.
across the 40 minutes are 11 songs with titles such as 'the ghosts you draw on my back', 'oh how the boat drifts', 'islands of the childrens children', 'abandoned ship bells', 'nightly cares'' - giving some idea that this is some form of structured concept album. evoking images such as lost at sea on an old boat with all encompassing fog swirling round. the sonics of the album include ghostly vocal appearances, strange emotions, spooked melodies. uncharted territory for this listener, the eerie childlike vocals (yes yes .. bjork-esque in parts, but a lot more serene) add to the overall effect, and can take some getting used to. several of the tracks are hardly noticeable, the far away wistfulness of the harmonica on 'nightly cares' is a thing of splendour and probably the only instrument that i recognised as the rest of the musical backing is all manners of fascinating sounds, much of which has been passed via various effects (pedals or software variety i know not) adding subtly distorted layers of the modern world to the minimal scratchy ambience. aural ghost stories (listen to 'stir' and resist those up the spine chill factors). despite my initial reservations i have found that the combination works well across many of the tracks. its a quiet unassuming album that inhabits it own ether world but has ways of creeping into the listeners subconscious.
not an easy album to love and connect with and raise blood pressure and emotions, but one to definitely to succumb and be washed away at sea with.