Buckelew Beat: Your múm is the best band ever

by Kevin Buckelew

Wednesday February 22, 2006

Yesterday, I received a package from amazon.com containing the book "Colloquial Icelandic: The Complete Course for Beginners" with accompanying CDs and audio-cassette tapes.

The blame for such a seemingly ridiculous purchase and intended line of study can be placed almost solely on the Icelandic band múm (pronounced ‘moom’), also known in some circles as The Best Band Ever. It consists of two classically trained twin sisters (one has since left the band) and two electronic music guys. Together, they walk the delicate line between acoustic and electronic sound with complete precision and create really beautiful, playful and profound music.

Chances are if you can think of anything you’d like a band to be doing, they’ve already tried it. For example, they use banjos, accordions and xylophones and have, in their native Iceland, played concerts underwater. They have song titles like "Asleep On a Train" and "Oh, How the Boat Drifts." Their music frequently evokes childhood and abandoned lighthouses (only partially because their third album was recorded in one). Their album covers look like old, worn-out books.

I love them. I’m hesitant to admit that I’ve spent many hours reading interviews and exploring their wonderful interactive website (randomsummer.com), but I have concluded without any shred of doubt that they are the very coolest people, and I wish they were my friends.

From what I’ve gathered, they enjoy swimming in pools and riding bicycles. They say they knew they’d made a successful album with "Finally We Are No One" when their grandmother told them she enjoyed it. I’ve also heard that they’re very good live (justconcerts.com lets you stream one of their shows).

If múm happens to paint an exaggerated picture of Iceland in my mind, other products of the country have only strengthened it. The film Noí, directed by Dagur Kári, is slow-paced and beautiful. Incidentally, the director’s band Slowblow also composes the music for the film, and their self-titled album features múm’s lead singer Kristín Valtsdóttir.

Outside the realm of music, some very short stories by Gyrir Elíasson were translated into English for the fifteenth issue of McSweeney’s, and they were delightful (nothing else of his has been translated, which is another reason to learn the language). Now, if these don’t supply just cause for romanticizing about the country, I don’t know what will.

I’m pretty sure múm has something that ‘similar’ bands (Four Tet, Dntel, To Rococo Rot, etc.) are lacking. Maybe it’s just that they understand the importance, even in electronic music, of being organic. A perfect example of this lies in their ‘remix’ album, "Please Smile My Noise Bleed." It contains two original songs, which are both amazing, and seven remixes by various electronic artists, none of which come close to surpassing the originals. What it is that they’re so good at can’t really be explained, but it makes a great deal of difference.