Formed in Iceland by Gunnar Örn Tynes, Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason, and twin sisters Gyða and Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, Múm took the post-rock and electronica worlds by surprise with their refreshingly inventive debut full length Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today is OK for Tugboat Records. The album presented a fantastic blend of mellow rock fare and sparkling electronic noodlings for an end result landing somewhere between Tortoise and Boards of Canada. With Please Smile My Nose Bleed, Múm offers two new tracks and 7 excellent remixes by the likes of Phonem, ISAN, Bernard Fleischmann, Arovane, Christian Kleine, Sytrofoam, and of course Múm themselves.
This is another alluring release in a seemingly endless line of first-rate offerings from my favorite label, Morr Music, again submitting a diverse assortment of highly intelligent electronic compositions. It was only a matter of time before Múm wound up on Morr, with Please Smile My Nose Bleed turning out to be a very worthy addition to the steadily increasing catalog of quality electronic releases from this celebrated German label. The e.p. initiates with two new tracks, “On the Old Mountain Radio” and “Please Sing My Spring Reverb” (gotta love these song titles), each laying down a string of lovely melodies, crackling voice samples, simple synthlines, and clip-clopping beats. The former reminds me a bit of ISAN’s recent material, with its light, cheery tones, while the latter poises from a slightly darker vein, pairing more intricate harmonies with mellow hip hop beats and several well-executed pattern breaks. Styrofoam takes on “Please Sing My Spring Reverb”, utilizing the original main melody
as a base while layer upon layer of dreamy synth patterns build over a sprinkling of dry beats brushed with a slight sense of urgency. ISAN’s “Catena mix” of the same track employs a deliciously dark synth pattern as broken beats and miniature bells build the song’s addictive percussion. Again, the main melody is used but not predominantly as the song builds and breaks repeatedly before dying slowly with fading pieces of the beat tracks. A short revisit to “On the Old Mountain Radio” by Múm titled “Flow Not So Fast Old Mountain Radio” leads the e.p. forward into Phonem’s mix of “Please Smile My Spring Reverb”. Quiet at first, this haunting mix utilizes lovely background atmospheres, dark tones, and a dry, ever-evolving hip-hop beat structure that stutters and stumbles as the song builds with a viable hook. Creases of static interact with subtle DSP effects as the beats stammer, then jump until the mix settles like fine particles on an unseen glassy surface.
Christian Kleine offers his rendition of the same track, lightening the focal tune into a dreamier state as a steady beat underlines the many layers of harmonic synth tinkering. Christian injects this mix with a catchy groove, molding the lullaby into a constant, attractive flow. The Arovane mix is decidedly my favorite on this release, throwing down a damn catchy beat pattern over multiple layers of melody. Zahn expertly transforms the song’s original patterns into a beautiful electronica work that has genuine accessibility and steady, head-nodding beats. Lastly, Bernard Fleischmann uses lovely female harmonizing matched with crinkling DSP to kick his mix forward, building on much of the original sounds but surgically breaking the loops with timely drops in the beat pattern. Although e.p.s such as this tend to bore when several comparable artists remix only one or two songs repeatedly, the selection of remixers on this particular release offer enough diversity and stunning innovation to make this a very worthwhile acquisition. Please Smile My Nose Bleed is an addictive and highly enjoyable record, sure to please any electronica listener, especially those who have enjoyed the bulk of Morr Music’s catalog. Highly recommended.
Please Smile My Nose Bleed is out now on Morr Music.
