Finally We Are No One

Finally We Are No One is the stunning, highly anticipated second album from this Icelandic four-piece. Beautifully meshing dense-but-intricate programming with gorgeous vocal and instrumental melodies, richly textured, hypnotic, and unashamedly sumptuous, this is a stunning, emotive album whose pop surface belies a deep sense of exploration. Now based between Reykjavik and Berlin, múm are four kids from a middle class background, like most everybody else in Iceland. Two guys (Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Póreyjarson Smárason) and two classically trained twin sisters (Kristín Anna and Gyða Valtysdóttir), they have forged a gorgeously rich and melodic take on electronica, imprinting it with their own unique sound and character. Though they've been quickly taken by the hearts of the electronica scene, what sets the band apart from so many of their peers is the strong, melodically lush vocals, and their bold integration of both analog and digital technologies. Playing an assortment of instruments -- including accordion, melodica, glockenspiel, synthesizers, guitars, bass, and cello -- alongside some crisply programmed electronic washes, beats, and bleeps, the band's musical talent is immediately audible.