The album released by Fat Cat Records in 2007 has been one of those non-commercial albums released by Mum so far. The fifth album of this Icelandic band sees a new line up altogether. And thus you have members from Gunnar Orn Tynes and Orvar Poreyjarson Smarson as part of this enticing creation. There are two fresh vocalists creating a sound that makes a wholly new Mum.

Imagine a heavenly tropos of mixed instrumental classical music fusing with new age electronica and there you have the fresh, ethereal sound from Mum. They have experimented with various style elements and features and you will welcome that anytime for Mum is never dull for a moment. Songs like “Blessed Brambles” are what you can think of direct influence of Radiohead and then a pre-released single like “They Made Frogs Smoke ‘Til They Exploded” is a great new combination. You would also find some traditional, Mum signature tracks that have that lucid dream like trance about them. They also keep playing around with nursery sounds and ping pong beats. So alternately you have a whole lot of texture, from the heavy to the light there is clarity as well as a trance to the core. “Dancing Behind My Eyelids” is the song to resonate throughout the album and can be said to be the very main vein of the entire structure of the album.

However it still is difficult to find a major theme song in the album and many critics would argue that the album is best approached as a soundtrack for a movie. Mum’s elven sounds and mystic aura delivers an independent stroke that cannot be generally approached in straight square measures. The band’s prowess with major electronica is clearly reflected through each of the tracks in the album.

They create perfectly asymmetric art form with their eclectic choice in sounds and their experimentations. The album develops its uniqueness and individuality after a few good long listens with most people. Many would just want Mum to seep in that way which is a greatly rewarding process!

This has been a long work being released after three years’ of Mum’s creative break. The album efficiently captures the atmospheric chill of Iceland. One finds shades of the ethereal, mystic, the childish and the playful as well as that of the misfit and the odd packed in this wonderful collage.

The music is not something that you had been expecting but not at all something that you would be disappointed with either. The new line-up is surely a surprise gift!