Albums
Smilewound
2013
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 2013
By Brian Howe
Reviewed September 9, 2013
Blending classical and rock instrumentation with glitchy beats, ambient electronics, and stagy vocals, the Icelandic band Múm's music taps into a spirit of childlike wonder. The best songs on Smilewound, including a bonus track featuring Kylie Minogue, hint at svelte, engaging electro-pop.
The Icelandic experimental pop troupe Múm was formed in 1997, just a few years after Sigur Rós, and they have always played like a more intimate answer to their country's definitive post-rock band, with a bigger soft spot for Aphex Twin. Blending sweeping classical and rock instrumentation with glitchy beats, ambient electronics, and stagy vocals, their music "taps into a spirit of childlike wonder." You will notice the scare quotes, which are there because even though Múm superficially telegraph ingenuous naiveté, the genuine article feels scarce. To a child, everything is vivid and interesting, but Múm's music can be very dull. Their latest, Smilewound, is lively in spurts, but its appeal is still limited to listeners with insatiable sweet teeth and high tolerances for moony torpor.