Summer make good

Album review

After the pastoral pop of Finally We Are No One, Múm returned with Summer Make Good, which continues the more organic-sounding trend of the group's previous album, but with a darker and more theatrical feel than any of their other work. "Hú Hviss - A Ship" lasts scarcely more than a minute, but it signals the rest of the album's spooky beauty with a soundscape of wind, creaking wood, and what might as well be whale songs. The album has a sense of drama that is a welcome addition to Múm's sound, especially on "Weeping Rock, Rock," a slow-building epic that makes the most of the electronic-meets-symphonic sound that the band has forged since Yesterday Was Dramatic -- Today Is OK. The song's brass, powerful but intricate drums, and focus on Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir's distinctive, childlike voice won't diminish the comparisons between Múm and Björk, especially since Múm has made vocals a bigger part of their music with each release. However, Múm's music is more organic and delicate than Björk's is, and Valtýsdóttir's voice is far more ethereal and diffuse. Indeed, her singing is so delicate that the group's decision to emphasize it doesn't always lead to immediately compelling results. That's not to say tracks such as "The Ghosts You Draw on My Back" aren't lovely, but instrumental pieces like the Broadcast-esque "Away" and "Stir," which sounds like eddies of wind chasing each other, tend to be more arresting on first listen. The songs that use Valtýsdóttir's voice as another instrument, including the return to Yesterday Was Dramatic -- Today Is OK-style electronica of "Sing Me Out the Window," also work well. Summer Make Good's melancholy lifts a bit in the middle of the album on the angel-spun "The Islands of the Childrens Children," a gorgeous song that takes the joyful feeling of Finally We Are No One and multiplies it by ten. It makes the song an even sharper contrast to the rest of the album's gentle sadness, which peaks on "Oh, How the Boat Drifts" and the eerily lovely "Will the Summer Make Good for All of Our Sins?" Summer Make Good may be Múm's quietest and most impressionistic album yet; what they're able to do with silence and near-silence is impressive, particularly on the serene, softly rounded "Nightly Cares" and "Abandoned Ship Bells," which drifts the album to a close. Its quietness and moodiness make Summer Make Good Múm's most demanding album, but also, fortunately, a rewarding one too.
© Heather Phares /TiVo