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Artist: Múm
Album: Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy For those unaware of Múm, it should be acknowledged that here is a band that often achieve great praise by the critics due to them rarely failing on bringing something inventive and inspiringly original to the table. The celestial Icelandic songsmiths were greatly admired by the late John Peel and released at the beginning of this year the peel Sessions showing once again how their anamorphic taste of music doesn't tire for fresh innovation. Now on their fourth studio album Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy, and their first effort after the departure of founding member and vocalist Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, their dogma of continual musical permutation appears not to have been upset, but the bad news is that, despite some encouraging changes, the band seems to be struggling to find a fresh sound as congruent as their previous ensemble allowed them to achieve. Múm do still have a way with texture. The 95-second confection "Rhuubarbidoo" agreeably blends horns and melodica with synthesized music box sounds. Strings and harp give "Marmalade Fires" a majestic shine. "Dancing Behind My Eyelids", released as a single earlier this year, which opens with a subtle synth pattern that combines percolating, underwater-sounding bass tones with a slight twinkle of bells. It's an instantly effective set-up reminiscent of their first album Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Was OK. Many of the tracks however fail to reach the accolades previously bestowed to the Icelandic vanguards. A few may argue that a band of this vicissitude even playing at half-strength swamp their piers, but many of the tracks on Go Go fail to impress to the extent that some tracks are truly uninspiring. As always, Múm is unafraid of melodically complex compositions and crowded spaces, but the cluttered collages of tracks like "These Eyes Are Berries" can sometimes be exhausting to navigate and instead of exuding class with deeply complex and densely layered sounds, many on this record are morosely tepid. While still an interesting record with some experimental bite to a few tracks, Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy, for a band known for their musical innovation, surprisingly doesn't break much new ground. 1. Blessed Brambles
2. A Little Bit, Sometimes
3. They Made Frogs Smoke 'Til They Exploded
4. These Eyes Are Berries
5. Moon Pulls
6. Marmalade Fires
7. Rhuubarbidoo
8. Dancing Behind My Eyelids
9. School Song Misfortune
10. I Was Her Horse
11. Guilty Rocks
12. Winter (What We Never Were After All)
Review by Robin J.
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