Finally We Are No One
It's an enchanted world that Múm inhabit. Conceived in a remote Icelandic lighthouse,Finally We Are No Oneis an electronica album that conjures up hazy, half-remembered memories of childhood, both magical and eerie. The obvious comparisons are withBoards of Canadaand Múm's compatriot,Björk. But as with their superb 2000 debut,Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is OK, Múm make a music that's far too original to be easily compartmentalized. So analog keyboards hum alongside muted digital glitches, and "proper" instruments--accordions, cellos, melodicas--flutter in and out of the mix. The overall effect is of a modern kind of folk music. It's gentle, almost-fey stuff, but the quartet (including twin sisters who appeared on the cover of Belle & Sebastian'sFold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant) never slips into anything like polite ambience. Instead, the 11 pieces are like extracts from a particularly vivid dream journal, especially when the Valtýsdóttir sisters sing in their peculiar gurgling, infantilized way in the epically unfurling lullaby, "The Land Between Solar Systems." This is an album that leaves you longing for shady childhood experiences you never knew you'd even had.--John Mulvey