Originally a duo, the band has expanded and contracted in the 12 years of being and has counted 15 - 20 people along the way.
The band was formed in 1997 by original members Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason, their first release was a split 10" with the girl-band Spúnk and saw light in the summer of '98. They were joined a year later by twin sisters Gyða and Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir and released two albums as quartet. Following a number of collaborative projects, the group’s celebrated debut album Yesterday was dramatic - today is OK (reissued by Morr Music in October 2005) gained a wealth of glowing press and widespread praise. A remix project, Please Smile My Noise Bleed, also released on the Morr Music label in November 2001.
In 2002, after the release of Finally We Are No One and the extensive first world tour, Gyða left the band to return to her studies in Reykjavík. Shortly after, the third sister Ásthildur Valtýsdóttir joined for singing duties temporarily and Serena Tideman replaced Gyða on cello, for a single European tour. The band's third album, Summer Make Good, a darker and foggier, nautically themed work was released in May 2004, flanked by two singles, Nightly Cares and Dusk Log. By then the ensemble had evolved to include Eiríkur Ólafsson and Hildur Guðnadóttir (who had guest appearances on múm recordings from the beginning) and Ólöf Arnalds. In early 2006, Kristín also left the band after releasing and heavily touring the album Summer Make Good.
The start of 2006 saw the band's creativity start to blossom once again, starting with two remixes Goldfrapp of the tracks ‘Number 1’ and ‘You Never Know’. They followed this with two legendary DJ sets at the FatCat Festival in Belgium in February and SXSW in Austin Texas 2007. With a combination of decks, effects, laptops, toy microphones, old cassette player recordings and vocals, coupled with their own recorded material, strange electronic covers by friends, gypsy folk music and general craziness on stage. They were also subsequently invited DJ at Summer Sonic Festival in Japan as well as be headline act as DJ's in Radio 1’s Rob Da Bank tent at Bestival on the Isle of Wight. In september 2007 múm released Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy which turned out to be the bands last release for the Fatcat Records.
múm has always worked on projects which could be classed as unusual for a pop band or a pop collective. Among their extra curricular activity is their own soundtrack for the classic Sergei Eisenstein film, 'Battleship Potemkin', live performances of which have taken place in Hafnafjordur Iceland, Brooklyn Lyceum New York, and at the distinguished Gijon Film Festival Spain. múm have also composed for theater, most notably two radio theater plays, 'Svefnhjólið' (Sleeping Wheel) by Gyrdir Eliasson which won the Nordic Radio-theater prize and in 2008 Augu þín sáu mig (Your eyes saw me) by poet Sjón (which múm also worked with in 1999 on the operetta Kisa (cat). In 2005 they were invited to Amsterdam by the Holland Festival to collaborate with the National Dutch Chamber Orchestra to create a performance piece based around various compositions of the late avant-garde composer Iannis Xenakis for one of the centre piece shows at the festival.
múm released their fifth studio album, Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know, in August 2009. The collective now consists of founding members Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason and for touring and recording, this line-up is expanded to include their friends Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson (trumpet / piano/ keyboards), Hildur Guðnadóttir (cello / vocals), Sigurlaug Gísladóttir (Vocals / ukulele/ various), Róbert Reynisson (guitars/ukulele's) and the Finnish Samuli Kosminen (drums / percussion). The musical group sometimes extends to Ólöf Arnalds, Högni Egilsson, Ólafur Björn Ólafsson and Guðbjörg Hlín Guðmundsdóttir as well as a never ending family of friends and musicians who may join at the drop of a hat.
Official website: http://www.mum.is
Green Grass of Tunnel
múm Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Drips great noise.
It drips on my head through a hole in the roof.
Behind these two hills here
There's a pool.
And when I'm swimming in
I shut my eyes.
Inside their cabin I make sounds
In through the tubes I send this noise.
Behind these two hills here
fall asleep.
And when I flood in green grass of tunnel...
It floods back.
Down from my ceiling
drips great noise.
It drips on my head through a hole in the roof.
Behind these two hills here
there's a pool.
And when I'm swimming in
through a tunnel
I shut my eyes.
The lyrics of múm's song Green Grass of Tunnel describe a serene and peaceful scene. The first stanza sets the tone of the song, as water drips on the singer's head from a hole in the roof creating a calming and soothing sound. Behind two hills in the distance, there is a pool that the singer swims in. The singer shuts their eyes as they swim through a tunnel, creating a calming and meditative experience. The second stanza changes slightly, as the singer is now making sounds inside a cabin and sending this noise through the tubes that connect to the outside world. The third stanza repeats the details about the hills and the pool, but this time, when the singer swims in, they flood in the green grass of the tunnel, a metaphorical representation of a peaceful and happy place.
The lyrics are poetic and abstract, leaving room for different interpretations. The hole in the roof that drips water could represent a source of inspiration or creativity. The cabin and tubes could symbolize the connection between the inner self and the outside world. The green grass of the tunnel could represent a peaceful and happy place the singer escapes to. This song creates a calming and lulling effect as it progresses, matching perfectly with the peaceful underwater scenario described.
Line by Line Meaning
Down from my ceiling
From the top of my room
Drips great noise.
I hear the sound of dripping water
It drips on my head through a hole in the roof.
Water from the hole in the roof falls on my head
Behind these two hills here
Beyond those two hills
There's a pool.
A water body can be found
And when I'm swimming in
While I am inside the pool
through a tunnel
I swim through a passage
I shut my eyes.
I close my eyes
Inside their cabin I make sounds
I create music inside the nearby cabin
In through the tubes I send this noise.
The sound travels through the tubes
Behind these two hills here
Beyond those two hills
fall asleep.
People go to bed
And when I flood in green grass of tunnel...
When I enter the green tunnel
It floods back.
The feeling comes back to me
Down from my ceiling
From the top of my room
drips great noise.
I hear the sound of dripping water
It drips on my head through a hole in the roof.
Water from the hole in the roof falls on my head
Behind these two hills here
Beyond those two hills
there's a pool.
A water body can be found
And when I'm swimming in
While I am inside the pool
through a tunnel
I swim through a passage
I shut my eyes.
I close my eyes
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GUNNAR OERN TYNES, GYDA VALTYSDOTTIR, KRISTIN ANNA VALTYSDOTTIR, OERVAR THOREYJARSON SMARASON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@HamacekS
Down from my ceiling
Drips great noise.
It drips on my head through a hole in the roof.
Behind these two hills here
There's a pool.
And when I'm swimming in
through a tunnel
I shut my eyes.
Inside their cabin I make sounds
In through the tubes I send this noise.
Behind these two hills here
fall asleep.
And when I flood in green grass of tunnel...
It floods back.
Down from my ceiling
drips great noise.
It drips on my head through a hole in the roof.
Behind these two hills here
there's a pool.
And when I'm swimming in
through a tunnel
I shut my eyes.
@rafmorgon1
2023 y sigo escuchando esta maravillosa composición.
Me traslada a otra vida, a un yo que hace mucho que se fue, muy a mi pesar.
Me hace volar, me hace sentirme tan bien y a la vez tan mal que me vuelve loco.
Me pone frente al espejo y no me reconozco, para lo mejor y para lo peor.
Me permite sentarme de nuevo, durante milésimas de segundo, junto a la persona que más felicidad y tristeza me ha hecho sentir en toda mi vida.
Esta canción no envejece y siempre descubro en ella algo nuevo.
Estoy enamorado de esta canción.
Como el nombre del sencillo indica: Finally, we are no one.
@neoticmusic
Me encantan!!
@LuciaLopez-sl6rv
Por fin encuentro un comentario en Español
@zonaalternativa8487
Increíble fans hispanos
@zonaalternativa8487
Hace rato que no escucho nada de Múm
@francobaldoni5800
Es curioso hacerte fan de musica islandesa injunable, y encontrar un comentario de un artista que nada que ver pero tambien sos fan.
@man-nq3pw
TOUT EST PARFAIT 42 ANS AUJOURDHUI SUICIDE ÉVITER.
EVOLUTION EN COUR
@dlbfanclub
i remember being homeless in high school, sleeping in parks and on benches. in the back of city buses. a broken heart in a seemingly broken world. Mum came to me, through friends found by chance. and this friend had an old car he would let me sleep in during the winter. mum was there for me. solace in sound. when i couldnt sleep and walked for hours at night, mum walked with me.
this music, this experience, is more than these words can express. i was reminded, im not defined by the life im born into, but instead, what i do with it.
@silverbat5873
You are magic. Finding beauty through the despair, pain, cold & lonliness because there is so much beauty within you. Hope you can feel this love I'm sending.
@dlbfanclub
the most kind statement of the year, and its still january. <3
@danytremila2318
I've never been homeless, but for some reason I feel like I relate very much with your story and the way you discovered and experienced mùm. I feel like the sensations were similar, even if in different contexts.