Múm — Finally We Are No One

For a country with such a small population, Iceland sure has a lot of talented acts. After Sigur Rós and Björk, Múm conquers mainland Europe and the USA. Finally We Are No One is the highly-anticipated second album from this 4-piece. With their debut album, Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Is Okay, Múm created a small underground hit and signed to UK based Fatcat records.

The music has a very organic sound even though Múm use a lot of electronic instruments. They mesh dense programming with beautiful vocal and instrumental melodies. Rich soundscapes and poppy melodies were created, making me long for Iceland's beautiful nature. I've never been there, but the music sounds very 'northern' to me.

A couple of songs really stand out. Their first single Green Grass Of Tunnel is perfect music for a sunrise. The video-clip (not included on this CD) features a flock of birds flying to a lighthouse, really fitting. But mind you, it's not all sunny new-age crap, We Have A Map Of The Plane, is a darker and gloomier song. Now There's That Fear Again has some beautiful organ and trumpet parts and is a really slow song, built around the vocals of classically trained twin sisters Kristín Anna and Gya Valtsdóttir. My favourite song is the almost 12 minutes long album closer, The Land Between Solar Systems. The organ parts are really great and it builds up from a dreamy ocean into a bumpy road.

All in all, I like Finally We Are No One much better than their debut. Their song writing skills improved a lot; This time the songs grab you. Unlike Yesterday Was Dramatic... I had no problems to sit through this album from beginning to end and my thoughts didn't fly off. There is still some room for improvement, but I'm already looking forward to the next Múm album.