mum: Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK (20th Anniversary Edition) Vinyl 3LP Mum

Much like Licorice, crustaceans, and aluminum, múm is one Iceland’s many great exports. The group was formed in 1997 by Gunnar Örn Tynes, Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason, and classically trained twin sisters Gyða and Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir. (Trivia – the Valtýsdóttir sisters are the gals on the front of Fold Your Hands Child… by Belle & Sebastian) They first met while at work on a children’s play, but it was a change of perspective after Smárason first heard Aphex Twin that most shaped the direction of the group. Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is OK was originally released on December 23, 1999, and was one of the first records to combine folk music with elements of what was then called “electronica”. It’s a chill, airy listen overall, the tranquility occasionally disturbed by glitchy beats or instrumental flourishes. “Combining drill-and-bass-inspired beat-chopping, future-informed DSP-programming, ethereal vocal work, indie rock’s boominess, folk music’s soulful brittleness, and a lofty feeling for melody and arrangement, the album is a rare example of musical transcendence and remains impossible to categorize.” Difficult to categorize as it may be, we think it sits somewhere between Autechre, Sigur Rós, and the Cocteau Twins. Includes “The Ballad of the Broken Birdie Records”, “Slow Bicycle”, and “There Is A Number Of Small Things”. The third disc includes early 2000s remixes by µ-Ziq, Ruxpin, and Biogen in addition to new cover versions by the Kronos Quartet and Hauschka.

• 20th anniversary 3LP pressing
• includes bonus remix disc
• digital download included
• limited edition
• tracklist: 01. I’m 9 Today 02. Smell Memory 03. There Is A Number Of Small Things 04. Random Summer 05. Asleep On A Train 06. Awake On A Train 07. The Ballad Of The Broken Birdie Records 08. The Ballad Of The Broken String 09. Sunday Night Just Keeps On Rolling 10. Slow Bicycle 11. The Ballað Of The Broken Birdie Records (Ruxpin Remix II) 12. Smell Memory (Bix Remix) 13. There Is A Number Of Small Things & The Ballad Of The Broken Birdie Records (µ-Ziq Straight Mix) 14. The Ballad Of The Broken Birdie Records (Biogen Mix) 15. Smell Memory (Kronos Quartet) 16. Random Summer (Hauschka) 17. Ballad Of The Broken String (Sóley)
• music label: MORR MUSIC 2019

reviewed by HÁKARL 07/2019