he grabbed my thumb and led me away from the accident.
there was no point in watching any more, still i was reluctant to
move. "we have to go find the others" he said . he never looked straight
at me. we walked in the grass,around the shack and down to the stream.
for some reason,i had never walked down there before. we went into a
concrete tunnel, dark but warm. a part of a noise was leaking from the
ceiling. now there was that musik again. he sat down and heard me do the
same. "finally we are no one" he said.
Finally we are no one is the second US release from the IDM group Múm. It is an album of stunning beauty and complexity, such an exquisitely textured work that it took my breath away the first time that I listened to it. The music is difficult to describe, it features the background crackling breakbeats common to other IDM artists like Bjork and Boards of Canada, as well as a wide variety of sounds used to composed the overall tone of each song. Múm also incorporates the angelic, innocent voices of their twin female members to provide lyrics for some of the songs. These parts are complimented by something more, however, to form the ethereal whole. Finally we are no one is not just a collection of tossed-off songs, bearing no relation to one another. It is a journey, a step-by-step guide through the world of a child's ghost. This world can be exquisitely joyful and fascinating, possessive of all the wonderful qualities that bring about the term 'child-like wonder'. It can be frightening and nightmarish, a smeared, distorted summary of all those horrible dreams that plague the nights of young children. And with the final acceptance of the children's deaths at the album's end, it can be possessed with an eerie, unreal calm.
Múm's ability to weave all the music of this album into one cryptic, yet understandable story is why I love Finally we are no one. The instrumentals, the vocals, the electronica, they are all combined masterfully to enact a bittersweet scene of life. The lyrics retell and detail portions of the introductory summary, revist upon themselves, revise, all with the gentle voice and innocence of a child. These are the eleven steps in the journey:
sleep/swim
green grass of tunnel
we have a map of the piano
don't be afraid, you have just got your eyes closed
behind two hills,,,,a swimming pool
K/half noise
now there's that fear again
faraway swimmingpool
i can't feel my hand any more, it's alright, sleep still
finally we are no one
the land between solar systems
Album recorded by Múm, 2002, in England and Iceland. There is a twin release to this one called Loksins erum við engin in which the lyrics are sung entirely in Icelandic instead of English. This release is only available in Iceland.
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