Photo by Ryosuke Kikuchi
MÚM‘s Smilewound: one of the most charmful albums of 2013.
MÚM – Smilewound
1. Toothwheels
2. Underwater Snow
3. When Girls Collide
4. Slow Down
5. Candlestick
6. One Smile
7. Eternity Is The Wait…
8. The Colorful Stabwound
9. Sweet Impressions
10. Time To Scream And Shout
11. Whistle (With Kylie)
MÚM are back with their new album Smilewound. And you don’t need to be Freud to regard teeth as a delicate issue, right? They can make joy look joyous and pain look painful, and MÚM‘s album cover does both at the very same time. Like the Icelandic band’s albums Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today Is Okay (2001), Finally We Are No One (2002) and Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know (2009), Smilewound is again another example of the MÚM‘s art of juxtaposing two conflicting meanings and taking advantage of the energy created through the tension between both.
But how does Smilewound sound like? What can you expect from the album? And even more: what is the main difference to its predecessors? To make the long story short: Smilewound is an airy and relaxed record. An album that calms you down, an album that you can 100% sink into, keep your thoughts going to while listening and last but not least one that you can totally dive into. MÚM‘s core-duo Örvar and Gunni won’t make you laugh, but they will make you smile and be happy. They build up playful electronic soundspheres and simple melodies that just feel right. And if it feels right it simply has to be right. Wouldn’t you agree? The band understood that trimming down sound ornaments strengthens the melody and the atmosphere. With Smilewound MÚM created an album that is perfect pop music. Stripped down, dreamy and in fancy clothes. This might be the reason why the one and only KYLIE MINOGUE wanted to collaborate with the band. And she did on the album’s bonus track Whistle, which is also the title song of 2012 movie “Jack & Diane”.
Smilewound was released on September 6th on CD, vinyl and digital download via Morr Music and on September 7th on cassette (for Cassette Store Day). The video to the album’s opening track and first single, Toothwheels wasdirected by MÚM, Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson and Bruno Granato and can be watched below.
Smilewound: Ask MÚM your questions
At this year’s Reeperbahn Festival NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION will meet MÚM to talk to them about a lot of things. Do you also have questions? Well, no problem. Just let us know what you would like to know from/about the band by submitting your question(s) below.
[contact-form-7 id=”48272″ title=”Questions to Múm”]
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MÚM