Think of Iceland and you'll probably bring to mind a desolate, chillingly beautiful land stuffed with mystery, intrigue and folklore, rather than rock'n'roll Valhalla in the traditional sense. However, since The Sugarcubes began the slow process of putting the country on the contemporary musical map in the late '80s, there's been a quiet continental drift of remakable music from the island's remote shores. Recent years have seen the emergence of Sigur Ros and Silt and now fascinating indie/ electronica collective MuM.
MuM are in the process of releasing a fantastic new single coupling "Nightly Cares" with another new song called "Once On A Shiny Morning Puddle," which actually lives up to its' fascinating title. The single precedes the band's new album "Summer Make Good" (due shortly on the Fat Cat label - www.fat-cat.co.uk ). Reason enough for W&H to get on the blower to MuM central for a chat with band mainstay Gunnar Orn Tynes ? You bloody betcha!
Gunnar, who tells me he does "all kind of silly things" instrumentation-wise in the band, begins by telling me about the new single. First "Nightly Cares", which is a little warmer and organic than MuM's previous trademark electronica.
"Yes, all our songs come from a strange place inside of us," he says quietly.
"Nightly Cares" is kind of dreamy. I'd best describe it as about the things you do before you go to sleep. Whereas "Once On A Shiny Morning Puddle" is very rocking. It was more of an exercise in having fun on the guitars. It's actually probably the most rocking thing we've done to date."
Both songs are fine examples of MuM's uniquely strange sonic adventures, but then if your band recorded the way they do, you'd probably sound so otherworldly yourself. "Summer Make Good", it transpires was recorded in two different locations in the wild outside Reykjavik which most of us would be amazed by. Speaking to Gunnar, though, the band seem to take this kind of thing in their stride.
"Mmm, yeah, well we actually recorded the album in two places," he reveals nonchalantly.
"Firstly we spent some time in a remote lighthouse in a place called Galtarviti in the North-West of Iceland writing the songs and bringing everything together."
"Then," he continues, "we actually recorded the album in a lghtkeeper's house in a place called Gardskagata, which is in the South-West of the country."
Nonetheless, with the band packing equipment into pick-up trucks and heading off into the wilderness to record on location, the album's story has a romanticism attached that most bands can't even contemplate cooped up in the subterranean holes that pass for most studios.
"We do certainly enjoy somewhere special to work and appreciate it," replies Gunnar.
"Besides, the way we like to record, a studio's not a necessity for us. Sure it's partly out of practicality because studios are so expensive, but more importantly our music doesn't need to sound clean and clinical. We want some hiss and distortion and a big studio sound would be missing the point. I really don't like big studios at all," he finishes emphatically.
In any case, while MuM are originally from Reykjavik, they are not really assisted by any 'scenes' the Icelandic capaital may be keen to support, remaining isolated from such 'parish pump' media activities. I seem to remember having a similar conversation with the lads from Silt....
"Yeah, I can understand them feeling that way," Gunnar agrees.
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"Reykjavik is a bit strange in that it's so small, so there are lots of bands trying to compete and there aren't any coherent scenes anyway. It can be kind of incestuous and you do feel you wanna get out."
In MuM's case, the band actually have got out, as Gunnar explains.
"Yeah, well we are all from either Reykjavik or the surrounding area, but myself and Kristin (Anna Valtysdottir - another original core band member) moved to Berlin two years ago, so that's probably another thing that's helped MuM's dynamic."
Whereabouts in Berlin do you live?
"We're in Prenzlauer Berg in the city's old Eastern half."
I know it well. It's an interesting area, isn't it?
"Yeah, we're very spoilt with music here," he enthuses.
"We go to concerts of all types every week. I love the history of the city, the architecture and the way it's rebuilt itself. It's a strange place Berlin...it's never been able to settle because of the tumultuous events of the past, so it's like it keeps being thrown up in the air and coming back down a different way."
Right. But - apart from the change in location - how do you feel MuM have changed in the two years since the release of your first album?
"The biggest change has been Kristin's sister quitting, so we've taken in three other people for live work," he explains.
"It's made us re-think, but it's been a good thing in the long run because we've gotten really into what we're doing now. We approach songs a bit differently and go for different ideas, sometimes writing more organically and sometimes using computers. Plus we toured for a long time and the new songs started drifting in during that time."
OK, so "Summer Make Good" will be with us shortly. Which songs are you especially proud of on the new record?
"I'm really pleased with it as a whole," he responds quickly.
"But if I had to choose songs, then I'd certainly go for the second last song "Will The Summer Make Good", purely because it sounds very special to me. Also, song no.7 on the album, "The Island Of Children's Children." With that one, it's because we managed to squeeze in loads of different instruments and still make it sound cohesive. Besides - everyone's a child of other children, aren't they?" he concludes, philosophically.
Very wisely observed sir. OK, we're gonna have to go now, but I see you have a huge European tour schedule coming up in April and May. For the last word, tel us where you're really looking forward to playing.
"Oh, loads of places," laughs Gunnar, "but I guess Portugal because we're ready for some sunshine and definitely Prague. We'e never played there before and it's somewhere I really admire and enjoy as a place anyway. But we're happy to go anywhere people will have us."
Best keep that diary open then Gunnar....
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