Finally we are no one

                he grabbed my thumb and led me away from the accident.
there was no point in watching any more, still i was reluctant to
move. "we have to go find the others" he said . he never looked straight
at me. we walked in the grass,around the shack and down to the stream.
for some reason,i had never walked down there before. we went into a
concrete tunnel, dark but warm. a part of a noise was leaking from the
ceiling. now there was that musik again. he sat down and heard me do the
same. "finally we are no one" he said.

Finally we are no one is the second US release from the IDM group Múm. It is an album of stunning beauty and complexity, such an exquisitely textured work that it took my breath away the first time that I listened to it. The music is difficult to describe, it features the background crackling breakbeats common to other IDM artists like Bjork and Boards of Canada, as well as a wide variety of sounds used to composed the overall tone of each song. Múm also incorporates the angelic, innocent voices of their twin female members to provide lyrics for some of the songs. These parts are complimented by something more, however, to form the ethereal whole. Finally we are no one is not just a collection of tossed-off songs, bearing no relation to one another. It is a journey, a step-by-step guide through the world of a child's ghost. This world can be exquisitely joyful and fascinating, possessive of all the wonderful qualities that bring about the term 'child-like wonder'. It can be frightening and nightmarish, a smeared, distorted summary of all those horrible dreams that plague the nights of young children. And with the final acceptance of the children's deaths at the album's end, it can be possessed with an eerie, unreal calm.

Múm's ability to weave all the music of this album into one cryptic, yet understandable story is why I love Finally we are no one. The instrumentals, the vocals, the electronica, they are all combined masterfully to enact a bittersweet scene of life. The lyrics retell and detail portions of the introductory summary, revist upon themselves, revise, all with the gentle voice and innocence of a child. These are the eleven steps in the journey:

sleep/swim
green grass of tunnel
we have a map of the piano
don't be afraid, you have just got your eyes closed
behind two hills,,,,a swimming pool
K/half noise
now there's that fear again
faraway swimmingpool
i can't feel my hand any more, it's alright, sleep still
finally we are no one
the land between solar systems

Album recorded by Múm, 2002, in England and Iceland. There is a twin release to this one called Loksins erum við engin in which the lyrics are sung entirely in Icelandic instead of English. This release is only available in Iceland.

There are creatures, we've known, living in the cracked sidewalks of this broken city. They are waiting for us to walk just a little too slowly. Waiting for middle of the nights when there are only a single set of footsteps and the screaming of everything you could not do today filling your heavy head. They will slide their stony fingers along the concrete surface, and you will stumble, catch yourself only to feel wholly defeated by a day, they've managed to convince, was not meant for you. As only such creatures can, they will become the wind flailing the trees along the fence wildly. Tiny branched fingers will sting the flesh of your cheek, push you towards the road, the dark past the streetlights.

Whispers in the too quiet, echoing your end. A few more sharp lashes from trees you had loved in the light and you are walking along the road, now. Too many noises inside your head, everything - even the wind, it would seem - pleading your swift departure.

There will be no great swelling of sound, no wailing mothers no horror-stricken faces. Only your own, blank stare, determined. You and the truck driver who cannot see so far into the night, who will not even notice as the creatures urge your step. A little further and they will have you, dry cracked tendrils reaching across the earth towards your last breath..

A hard bump and a startled driver complains to himself, the poor road conditions in this horrible city. Another soul slips into the pavement, the stony fingers gathering the evidence of his life into the cracks.

Some time, darlin', we will just disappear..