Mum - Summer Make Good

  by Emma Haigh

published: 11 / 4 / 2004

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Review

Mum has received a lot of flack for being precious, flimsy instrumentalists, unambitiously relying on their kitsch factor as ethereal childlike darlings. Or worse, using their Icelandic heritage (i.e. the eccentricism of Sigor Ros or naivety of Bjork) as an excuse for over-arching whimsy. To this I say Ptooey. 'Summer Make Good' is a much more aware, quieter affair than 'Finally We Are No One' (2002), with Mum consciously spinning their lo-fi saga less as individual ‘songs’ than an atmospheric continuum. The immediate effect is almost ironically hypnagogic. Dreamlike and densely atmospheric, the tracks ripple and take shape as one, yet remain entirely detached as coherent thoughts and fragments of dreams flow on the precipice of sleep. Strings tremble and canter with tinny drips of harp in 'Sing Me Out the Window' and 'The Island of Children’s Children'. While much of the album verges on the orchestral, there remains familiar curiosity with glitchy beats and clicks, and scritchy soft thuds of a record catching in 'Oh, How the Boat Drifts' bear witness to the bands proclivity for electronic wizardry. Throughout gasping trumpets and military-esque drum rolls meld symphonically allowing the bare whisper of singer Kristín Anna Valty´sdótti to hover in breathy compliance. Yet it also betrays a sense of maturity, particularly in songs like 'The Ghosts You Draw on My Back'. Belied by the fragile, and frayed aural effects of the vocals, it is a haunting love song that entreats a lover to bed. As well,' Will the Summer Make Good of All Our Sins?' mixes with strains of an almost Yiddish folk song, breaking up murmuring accordion bellows with a gentle patter of a distant xylophone. Though not a perfect album, with songs like 'Away' and 'Stir' achieving little more than filler, and the disappointingly unfinished sounding conclusion with 'Abandoned Ships Bells', 'Summer Make Good' marks a quite definite departure from the innocence and sweet folly of their previous two albums. It also marks the development of the band itself, venturing towards a more sinistral stripped-down instrumentalism and introducing a (so far unseen) edge of compelling cynicism to their avant-pop.

Track Listing:-

1 Hu Hviss
2 Weeping Rock, Rock
3 Nightly Cares
4 The Ghosts You Draw On My Back
5 Stir
6 Sing Me Out The Window
7 Island Of Childrens Children
8 Away
9 Oh How The Boat Drifts
10 Small Deaths Are The Saddest
11 Will The Summer Make Good For All Of Our Sins
12 Abandoned Ship Bells

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