Customer Reviews

Finally We Are No One [Vinyl]

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This new album from Mum gets more airplay on my stereo than anything else that's come out this year. These beautiful, catchy tunes have an ambient undertone, laced with crunching, scraping and crumbling beats with beautiful melodies provided by violins, trumpets, keyboards and wee little voices singing almost indistinguishable lyrics (or no lyrics at all).
This group has been compared, likened, and related to Bjork, Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin and Belle and Sebastian, and despite the latter mentioned group, these are completely accurate comparisons. The Belle and Sebastian reference is due to a friendship between the two groups, as well as the Mum twins appearing on the over of B+S's last full length LP ("Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant") However, Looper (electronic B+S spin off) this band is not. As far as sound and style there is no relation to B+S, and they show far more promise and talent than most of the B+S spin offs (again, Looper this band is not.)

As for the other comparisons, why not just try Bjork, Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin? Mum is well worth your time and while related to, does not rip off these groups or sound too much like them... While they have a comparitive beats and ambience to these three other groups/performers they do contain their own distinct style that really makes them a worthwhile group to look into. Take the mysterious sound and vocals of Bjork, add BoC's ambience, and some Aphex Twin beats (a la "The Richard D. James Album") and you ALMOST have Mum.
What Mum has going for itself is the organic ensemble that it has put together. Rather than, like so much electronic music today, limiting themselves to keyboards and computers, this group twines in a violin here, a trumpet there, beautiful little vocals that sound like they came from a rag doll recently given the power to sing.
I should emphasize that I really don't feel they are just another cute novelty band. Where at times this album has aspects that could be named "cute" that is not the driving force that makes it a good album. The songs are beautiful and well structured, with fantastic melodies and most importantly, really gread sounds. Odd clangs and thumps and crunches that really keep your attention. This music is dreamy and magical and wonderful to either pay close attention, or let drift into the background.

What Mum has done with their latest release has been a near 180 on the post rock genre: instead of over-orchestrating and creating gigantic crescendos, this disc remains original and almost transcendent of the limitless genre of "post rock" due to it's minimalist and almost acoustic take on music. By taking light melodies and looping them throughout the entire piece, inserting minor variations and adding the occassional organic instrument to color it, Mum has created an almost uncatergorical volume of muusic.

While this band has been compared to many IDM revolutionaries (Boards of Canada, Aphex,) and the post rock bands (GSYBE!, Sigur Ros), not much of the influence can be heard there. The only real comparison of them all is the fact that they're wholly original, and so is Mum: not writing music to incite you but music to enchant you in an almost osmotic way. The songs are enchanting in an physical way: you can see landscapes when listening to the music, almost as if it's a soundtrack to an unmade movie.

The real shining aspect of this entire disc is the minimalism of it: It isn't overproduced, it isn't over orchestrated, and each song does NOT take you on a path between high and lows. It's not a collection of songs but a cd that works with both functions: active listening and background music. It's music that serves Brian Eno's idealistic dream of existing for all contexts, which makes it one of the best albums of the year. Get a copy.

I wasn't too sure about mum, but I thought I'd give it a go, thanks to the numerous comparisons with Boards of Canada, Minotaur shock and DNTEL. I wasn't dissapointed. I could tell you all how it evokes memories of childhood and all that, but I won't, even though it's the only record in my whole collection that has actually done that. If you're looking for a late night or very early in the morning album, full of melancholic and reflective songs then this would be a perfect buy. I will say, if you're not used to singing with your electronic music this album may be a bit shocking, I certainly didn't warm to it right away, but after a couple of listens I managed to get the feeling that I was listening to St Etienne out of my mind and began to really enjoy the vocals too.

and it's about a million times better than all those 'chill out' albums too.

Imagine you are a kid again, no worries in the world, and you're at a magical amusement park, like disneyland or something, or a world where you can have all the toys you imagine and explore huge castles with dancing rainbow clowns... or a children's mini-golf course or amusement park with many wonderous structures of never-ending fun and exploration, on a perfect sunny summer day (not too hot) with checkerboard-patterned colorful grass, (I'm thinking of the Super Nintendo game Kirby's Dream Course...that game was fun) music boxes, and flying singing happy flowers... (I seriously don't do any drugs)

I know, the idea of this music being "a childish world of toys" and stuff has tired out, but it's indeed a very fitting description. This music also reminds me so much of fun old video games, a lot of songs would fit in games.

OK... Now to talk about what the music actually sounds like. There is mostly odd electronic rhythms and strange noises, along with synthesized (I think) violins and horns reminiscant of Italy, and crystal clear electronic beeps and loops. There are even some vocals. They are extremely soft and high. I can't really tell if they're male or female, or even human... they seriously sound like flowers.

Only the first few songs seem to be more upbeat and crazy like I've described above. The rest are more relaxing. Most of the album reminds me a lot of Tortoise, with a slightly more electronic feel. Also, a band with song titles this outrageous has got to be good.

"Green Grass of Tunnel" starts with a music box type sound and goes into a nice shuffling beat with quaint litle melodies.
"We Have a Map of the Piano" has crazy odd rhythms, sounds like you're playing it on a scratchy record player, distant/faded piano melodies, flying flower vocals, and synth'd violins. This song is so wild but also calm at the same time.

"Don't Be Afraid, You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed" is one of the best songs on the album. The flow of this song is excellent, sounds totally different at start than at finish and really builds up to a great climax. Starts out with a pulsing rhythm and charmingly odd melodies that go along with it, introducing new things and changing them along the way, eventually adding the sound of brass instruments, then fading away.
"Behind Two Hills, a Swimmingpool" is a short instrumental that sounds like you're swimming in an electronic swimming pool... very creative the way they made this sound.

The rest of the songs are way more ambient and relaxing.
"K/Half noise is a beautiful, flowing, rich, harmonious song. "Now there's that Fear Again" reminds me of Sigur Ros. "I Can't Feel my Hand Any More, It's Alright, Sleep Still" Is very Italian sounding with the violins and stuff, and also sounds the most like Tortoise. The title track is kind of haunting at the beginning and very ambient. And the last song, "The Land Between Solar Systems" is a 12-minute very ambient ending song.

All in all, this is a very worthy electronic album for your collection, especially if you like any of the bands I mentioned above or you just have a brain that likes the more creative musical realm.

I'd really say that this album should get 4 1/2 stars. It's just not quite there for me (yet). I think it's some of the most dreamy music ever. Some people have said "childhood memories" and such. I agree with them. It definitely hits something inside you,
very artsy sounding. If you like Bjork, and have an open mind, (there's a lot of stuff on here that will open your mind for you if it's closed) and like soft music with so much melody it hurts, than you'll like it.

There is some singing and it is electronicaly enhanced (I think) and sounds so cool! Track 3 is a prime example of what I'm talking about. You don't even care what she's saying due to the fact that her voice is so sweet and hushed. The engineering on this album is very good too. The music is constantly changing and goes in a cool direction each time. The songs are very unique as well, a diferent vibe with each tune.

If you dig Aphex Twin, Air, Zero 7, Boards of Canada, and all other "good" electronica, pick it up.

With the second album from Mum who hails from the land of quiet musical wonders, Iceland, they have created an artful masterpiece that's both emotional and intriguing.

What diffentiates them from their fellow compatriots, another revered band Sigur Ros, is that their excellent blend of electronica and sounds from the nature while Sigur Ros relies a lot on drama-building theatrics. For instance, on Behind Two Hills, a tranquil melody is accompanied by the sounds of water deropping and forming a ripple. It's unbelieveably real listening it through a stereo in a quiet place.

Each track though distinct, often flows seamlessly to another, creating a CD which you will definitely run through all the tracks once it's in the player. My favorite track on the CD would have to be Don't Be Afraid, You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed. It's actually a quirky upbeat songs among the rest.

Pick this up if you are a fan of Sigur Ros and Borads of Canada. I am going to check out their debut effort.

While expanding my IDM/electronic collection, I always overlooked Mum because I was never really big on Sigur Ros and the samples here on amazon didn't really do anything for me. When I had every Aphex, BoC, Four Tet, Autechre, Prefuse, Squarepusher (etc...) album, I hesitantly decided to pick up a copy of 'Finally We Are No One'.

When I got home and listened to it, I was blown away. There are few albums ("Music Has the Right..." for instance) that leave me speechless after just the first time hearing it and make me excited to uncover new aspects with each further listen. To start, the samples on this page do no justice to any song on the album. This CD is meant to put on with headphones to get the full effect and just relax and feel the music. The best way that I can explain the music on this album is what you'd get if Four Tet joined forces with Boards of Canada. It has both the dreamy, psychedelic feel of BoC, and the more down-to-earth traditional musical sounds of Four Tet. To me this is great, because with Four Tet's music I always liked the way it was going but it never quite got the job done for me.

Each song is unique and beautiful in it's own way. My favorite would have to be "Green Grass of Tunnel". This song has so many different aspects of beauty, not to mention if you close your eyes you can perfectly visualize every word. The music on this album is just unbeleivable... and combined with the soft, trippy lyrics make for an incredible listening experience.

I recommend this album to anyone who loves Boards of Canada, and especially to Four Tet fans.

im from the caribbean, so musically im a bit shut out from outside influences and rely on cdnow to research music, i came across this band sigur ros and thought their style...genre to be quite an eye opener..then i thought hmmm maybe i try this band.....mum, and i was blown away its hard to say what genre they are its like electronica crossed with ambient noise and lo fi beats....trip hop....i was well impressed with the talent that seems to come from this country iceland...music seems to be pure and experimental, when in todays music scene its all about making the bling blings...the dollars and living it big and all show...but this band is heart felt and real.......i think i would like any band tha come from iceland...thanks alot sigur ros and mum for elevating my musical hunger.

The closing track on this astounding effort sums up the feeling of the album accurately as the listener is taken to "the land between solar systems" before being brought crashing through the clouds to the solid sufrace of the Earth.

Dreamy, atmospheric, surreal, enchanting. These are all words you're likely to hear describing the sophmore album from this Icelandic quartet. Yet, none of them will do justice in describing the sheer beauty of this album.

If you liked the first single, "the ballad of the broken birdie records" from "Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is OK", you'll soon fall in love with the lush vocals on the lead song "green grass of tunnel" and "we have a map of piano", a hypotic melody that follows "green grass of tunnel" on the disc. Solid beats are provided by "don't be afraid, you have just got your eyes closed", "k half noise", "i can't feel my hand anymore, it's alright, sleep still", and "now there's that fear again", all of which are augmented by the dreamy soundscapes of "behind two hills,,,,a swimming pool", "finally we are no one", "faraway swimmingpool", and the stunning closer "the land between solar systems."

It's difficult to create a follow-up album to a solid first effort, but mum has outdone themselves by creating an album that fits together as a whole, instead of being seperate pieces glued together as it was on "Yesterday Was Dramatic."

If you have yet to hear the latest Icelandic export, do yourself a favour. Insert disc, lay back, relax, and enjoy.

Jason

my initial introduction to mum was actually reading a review here, and now i guess im returning the favor. this album is full of masterful beats, vocals, and is overall very creative, and has a lullaby type vibe which will put you to sleep on those nights where you just cant do it on your own. like several other reviewers said, the vocals are haunting at parts, which makes the song seem otherworldly. i dont really have much else to say, except if you happen to see this CD anywhere, buy it. youll be doing yourself a huge favor.