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indie-snob>+!#
múm @ logan sq. auditorium (8-22-03)
with the animal collective |
 Just hearing about this show made me squirm with delight. After starting this diary (Indie-Snob, that is), I started to check all of Chicago area’s venue sites, even ones that I’m not old enough to get into. But one night in July, I stumbled across Múm on the Empty Bottle website. At first, I think I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, because after all, it’s not every day that this amazing Icelandic band comes to Chicago. So, I headed out for the late show at the strange venue in the bad neighborhood, which ended up holding around 800 people. Not only that, but it appeared that the majority of Chicago’s young scenesters were out for the night. Wee. Opening for Múm was The Animal Collective. They opened with a song that sounded very similar to Sigur Rós, with haunting vocals and two very simplistic acoustic guitars going by the duo. By the next song though, the band was in full force, utilizing their vocal arsenal. At times, the one singer would shout and scream, yell and call, in noises both human and animal-like (I swear there were some birdcalls… and baby talk… lots of baby talk). Some electronics were used to distort the vocals and such, but really, they created a really complex sound out of not too much. By the third song or so, they brought out a drum and started banging on it like crazy, usually so hard, I completely expected the drum stick to shatter into pieces and fly into my eye (I was front row, center, kind of hard to avoid). It made me even more nervous to see that they had 8 or 10 extra sticks as well. Overall, they were an interesting watch, and didn’t even get on my nerves despite the more avant-garde, experimental nature of the group. Worth checking out live, but I’m not sure it’s an album you’d want to buy. Finally, Múm came out (after fixing some problems with accordion microphones and some laptop problems, taking a grand total of 40 minutes), opening with an instrumental number. To be honest, I was surprised to see the number of functional instruments on stage—two guitars, a bass, three keyboards, two mouth pianos, a xylophone, a trumpet, real drums (yes, most of the beats were redone with real dreams, it’s true), accordion, violin and an Apple PowerBook. Múm angled back and forth between playing songs off their sophomore effort Finally We Are No One and brand new songs, concentrating mainly on those with vocals. (Of course, some were done completely instrumental.) While only one of the twins was present (Kristen was the only one there, while the violin player took the place of the other in terms of vocal roles), the sound coming from the band was so beautiful. The new songs that were played were quite similar to the efforts of their previous album, but that certainly did not detract from their appeal. Throughout their entire set (which I unfortunately had to leave early from due to the lateness of the show) I was completely blown away. For one thing, the chemistry present in the band was spectacular. Members would switch instruments after almost every song. Secondly, Múm does a great job of making this beautiful melodies take form and change through their songs (I was completely blown away by both “We Have a Map of the Piano” and “Green Grass of Tunnel”) in this subtle, ambient, introspective way. But lastly, it was really, really interesting to hear the instrumental interpretation of a lot of the electronic sounds in the album. Actually, I was surprised to actually hear so much guitar used live. But saying that, the glitchy electronics that Múm fans have come to love were still present, but just enhanced that much more live. And so, for not knowing what to expect from this show, I was quite pleasantly surprised. Plus, I could not have been happier that this show was changed from a 21+ venue to an all ages venue (by the request of Múm themselves). The audience was completely silent throughout the entire set, which made me quite happy, even despite the growingly drunken 20-somes. The only real outside noises were from beer bottles crashing into the trash. That means, if you ever have the chance to see this amazing band, please do. I was completely astonished with the amazing vibe and it will surely be a show that will live on in my memory in every way. Quite Simply, Múm is the best electronica out there. |