múm — History of Silence

As with most of its Nordic neighbours, the music of Iceland stands uniquely alone - not just in its creativity but in its distinct tone and sound. Home to Björk, Sigur Rós, the late great Jóhann Jóhannsson and latterly, John Grant, there is something deep in the nation’s musical DNA that sees its artists (homegrown or otherwise) embrace the epic. Maybe it’s living in such a geographically spectacular country. Being in a place where there’s an innate feeling of experiencing the past, present and future all at once. It’s certainly this sensibility that infiltrates the music of collective múm – a band of independent Icelandic performers - who, after a hiatus of 12 years, re-entered the studio to revisit their blend of songwriting and electronic experimentation for History of Silence, their seventh album in thirty-odd years

The first iteration of múm appeared in 1997 with the coming together of recording engineer Gunnar Örn Tynes, poet and musician Örvar Smárason and classically trained twin sisters Gyda and Kristín Anna Valtysdóttir. Two years later, their debut Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK was released to critical acclaim. This was followed in 2002 with ‘Finally We Are No One’, but one by one the twins departed leaving the duo of Tynes and Smarason to their own devices expanding the collective to feature the likes of singer-songwriter Ólöf Arnalds and renowned avant-garde cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir alongside a whole sequence of performers and artists.  Recording intermittently, their last long-player was 2013’s Smilewound - featuring Kylie Minogue - before they found themselves taking a pause that lasted over a decade.

 As a collective, distance is a constant as its members’ paths continually cross and diverge. It is this concept that lies at the heart of History of Silence with ‘space and time’ inherent within its arrangements. Built over eight tracks, it would be easy to think this album falls into the folk, singer-songwriter category but that would be to neglect the musical depth on display.

‘Miss You Dance’ is the opening track and ticks all the boxes. It starts with gentle synthetic beats that underscore the entire song – there’s piano, strings, lilting melodies. It’s excruciatingly delicate so much so that the voices don’t break the dream until over halfway through. ‘Kill the Light’ gives us the first hint of epic, leading with an understated beginning of piano and female vocal before launching into a soaring romantic composition, the quiet restored with ‘Mild at Heart’ and its simple piano-vocal combination.

 ‘Only Songbirds Have a Sweet Tooth’ is a standout for me.  Distorted vocals combine with simple synth, driven by an absolutely charming ‘sing-a-long’ melody while ‘Our Love is Distorting’ embraces glitch with its static crackle and swoosh becoming larger-than-life when joined by female voice and drum. ‘A Dry Heart Needs No Winding’ sets a twanging guitar at its heart, before the steel guitar, distorted vocal and understated balladry of ‘I Like To Shake’ sees us to the end. Recorded across Europe (and New York) History of Silence deceives with its simplicity, becoming more remarkable with every listen.