Múm

There was this great line that I once read that roughly stated of a band, "They’re from Iceland. Ergo weird.” Few bands have upheld that simple statement better than Múm, who make their mark with breathy female vocals, some bits of glitch and a healthy dose of ambient. But this is not the Múm of earlier albums, as twin sisters Gyða and Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir have left the band to try to forage a new path. While Poison Ivy is a step in a better direction than the somewhat aimless and underwhelming Summer Make Good, there is still a hint of hesitancy in what path the band are going down. "They Made Frogs Smoke ‘Til They Exploded” is a great ambient pop tune, while "Dancing Behind My Eyelids” starts to sizzle near the end. But there is too much here that drifts by without ever grabbing attention. This is still quite lovely and original but the weird doesn’t spice up the album too much and the effortless beauty and sweep of the past seem just out of reach.