The question which strikes me constantly while venturing into one of my sporadic listens to Mum is, “what the heck is this?”
In the most literal sense, they are geographically Icelandic. Pop and rock critics call them “experimentalists.” Those who ply hyperbole would say that Mum, the chance outfit united while working on a children’s play, are akin to the auteur, both ecstatic and exciting. In between the timid ear and emboldened pen of this reviewer, Mum is simply a muddled and outright confusing band. Perhaps it is my strong affinity for the rock/pop song format that makes me revile their besmirching of it so heavily, but on album after album, their fey attempts at revolution feels as cold as their homeland. They fall into that most uncomfortable bedroom, boredom aesthetic (evidence the title, Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today is OK) and utilize their “cute” broken English with strangely inappropriate comfort.
I mean, how many more plays on words sourced in night class ESL slip-ups can we endure?
Late of Summer 2007, Mum is back at it again with the awkwardly titled, Go, Go Smear the Poison Ivy an album which finds the core of the band, scattered and disbanded. Down to original founders Tynes and Smarason, the band has decided that rather than redact their work, they would explode it. Good idea – for a while. The dreamy, space-eyed elements are largely gone in the beginning, replaced by something with a glittering sheen. There are good songs as a result, such as “Blessed Brambles”, “Dancing Behind My Eyelids” and “These Eyes Are Berries” worthy of a listen – perhaps repeat listens, but that’s where the party ends. There are moments as vexing and frustrating here as the album deteriorates into that raw experimentalism that has characterized them. A band that treats their talents like a toy cannot be, to this reviewer, any more frustrating.
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