Link: http://mumweb.net/

The Icelandic group’s latest offering sounds musically picked over. What I thought would just be an introduction and a sparse, plinking lullaby, “If I Were A Fish” sets the standards for this album, and that standard is low.

What Sing Along To Songs You Don’t Know lacks richness in their playing. Blame the late ‘90s/early 2000s and the instrumentalist of then. Something like this album would literally be a springboard to a much broader landscape. However, Mum’s landscape is a tiny backyard of abused toy pianos, clanky percussion, and a series of small instruments like the ukulele. It’s as if the lollipop guild turned Broadway.

And like their instruments, “Prophecies and Reversed Memories” and “Show Me,” micro manage their vision. Sure the strings on something like “Illuminated” broaden out their scope, but their scope is convoluted between the choir effect of the vocals and the lack of strength in their music.