This new album from Mum gets more airplay on my stereo than anything else that's come out this year. These beautiful, catchy tunes have an ambient undertone, laced with crunching, scraping and crumbling beats with beautiful melodies provided by violins, trumpets, keyboards and wee little voices singing almost indistinguishable lyrics (or no lyrics at all).

This group has been compared, likened, and related to Bjork, Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin and Belle and Sebastian, and despite the latter mentioned group, these are completely accurate comparisons. The Belle and Sebastian reference is due to a friendship between the two groups, as well as the Mum twins appearing on the over of B+S's last full length LP ("Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant") However, Looper (electronic B+S spin off) this band is not. As far as sound and style there is no relation to B+S, and they show far more promise and talent than most of the B+S spin offs (again, Looper this band is not.)

As for the other comparisons, why not just try Bjork, Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin? Mum is well worth your time and while related to, does not rip off these groups or sound too much like them... While they have a comparitive beats and ambience to these three other groups/performers they do contain their own distinct style that really makes them a worthwhile group to look into. Take the mysterious sound and vocals of Bjork, add BoC's ambience, and some Aphex Twin beats (a la "The Richard D. James Album") and you ALMOST have Mum.

I wasn't too sure about mum, but I thought I'd give it a go, thanks to the numerous comparisons with Boards of Canada, Minotaur shock and DNTEL. I wasn't dissapointed. I could tell you all how it evokes memories of childhood and all that, but I won't, even though it's the only record in my whole collection that has actually done that. If you're looking for a late night or very early in the morning album, full of melancholic and reflective songs then this would be a perfect buy. I will say, if you're not used to singing with your electronic music this album may be a bit shocking, I certainly didn't warm to it right away, but after a couple of listens I managed to get the feeling that I was listening to St Etienne out of my mind and began to really enjoy the vocals too.

and it's about a million times better than all those 'chill out' albums too.

I'd really say that this album should get 4 1/2 stars. It's just not quite there for me (yet). I think it's some of the most dreamy music ever. Some people have said "childhood memories" and such. I agree with them. It definitely hits something inside you,

very artsy sounding. If you like Bjork, and have an open mind, (there's a lot of stuff on here that will open your mind for you if it's closed) and like soft music with so much melody it hurts, than you'll like it.

There is some singing and it is electronicaly enhanced (I think) and sounds so cool! Track 3 is a prime example of what I'm talking about. You don't even care what she's saying due to the fact that her voice is so sweet and hushed. The engineering on this album is very good too. The music is constantly changing and goes in a cool direction each time. The songs are very unique as well, a diferent vibe with each tune.

If you dig Aphex Twin, Air, Zero 7, Boards of Canada, and all other "good" electronica, pick it up.

While expanding my IDM/electronic collection, I always overlooked Mum because I was never really big on Sigur Ros and the samples here on amazon didn't really do anything for me. When I had every Aphex, BoC, Four Tet, Autechre, Prefuse, Squarepusher (etc...) album, I hesitantly decided to pick up a copy of 'Finally We Are No One'.

When I got home and listened to it, I was blown away. There are few albums ("Music Has the Right..." for instance) that leave me speechless after just the first time hearing it and make me excited to uncover new aspects with each further listen. To start, the samples on this page do no justice to any song on the album. This CD is meant to put on with headphones to get the full effect and just relax and feel the music. The best way that I can explain the music on this album is what you'd get if Four Tet joined forces with Boards of Canada. It has both the dreamy, psychedelic feel of BoC, and the more down-to-earth traditional musical sounds of Four Tet. To me this is great, because with Four Tet's music I always liked the way it was going but it never quite got the job done for me.

Each song is unique and beautiful in it's own way. My favorite would have to be "Green Grass of Tunnel". This song has so many different aspects of beauty, not to mention if you close your eyes you can perfectly visualize every word. The music on this album is just unbeleivable... and combined with the soft, trippy lyrics make for an incredible listening experience.

I recommend this album to anyone who loves Boards of Canada, and especially to Four Tet fans.

The closing track on this astounding effort sums up the feeling of the album accurately as the listener is taken to "the land between solar systems" before being brought crashing through the clouds to the solid sufrace of the Earth.

Dreamy, atmospheric, surreal, enchanting. These are all words you're likely to hear describing the sophmore album from this Icelandic quartet. Yet, none of them will do justice in describing the sheer beauty of this album.

If you liked the first single, "the ballad of the broken birdie records" from "Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today Is OK", you'll soon fall in love with the lush vocals on the lead song "green grass of tunnel" and "we have a map of piano", a hypotic melody that follows "green grass of tunnel" on the disc. Solid beats are provided by "don't be afraid, you have just got your eyes closed", "k half noise", "i can't feel my hand anymore, it's alright, sleep still", and "now there's that fear again", all of which are augmented by the dreamy soundscapes of "behind two hills,,,,a swimming pool", "finally we are no one", "faraway swimmingpool", and the stunning closer "the land between solar systems."

It's difficult to create a follow-up album to a solid first effort, but mum has outdone themselves by creating an album that fits together as a whole, instead of being seperate pieces glued together as it was on "Yesterday Was Dramatic."

If you have yet to hear the latest Icelandic export, do yourself a favour. Insert disc, lay back, relax, and enjoy.

Jason