Nature's Opera (Náttúruóperan)
Múm 1999.
Theatre music
Múm made very beautiful music too the play Nature's Opera by Andri Snær Magnason and performed live on the stage 1999. Limited edition CD 1999.
Múm was formed in 1998 by Orvar Þoreyjarson Smarason and Gunnar Tynes, both from Reykjavik. They had been in a "new wave" band called Andheri who resembled in equal parts The Pixies and the great swedish band Bob Hund. Andheri released a 7-track EP called "Fallegir osigrar" (“Beautiful defeats”) in 1997 that is available on www.smekkleysa.net. With Mum they wanted to try to play different music and swop old toys with new. Múm's first release (as a duo) were two songs on a split 10" with short-lived combo Spunk called “Stefnumot kafbata” (“Submarine rendez-vous“) in 1998. Five hundred copies were made of the 10" and it is sold out. By this time Múm played it's first gig in Cambridge, England, with Spunk.
By the autumn of 1998 Orvar and Gunnar were asked to make music to the play that was being put up in the Reykjavik MH College and to be written by Andri Snær Magnason. At that point Gunnar and Orvar met the twins Gyda and Kristin Valtysdottir, and múm became a four-piece. Kristin and Gyda were in the Uruburu-sextet, a band that was formed for the play. That is the origin of múm. The music and the play was created at the same time and so influenced each other. The music from the play was released on a limited edition CDR and is totally sold out.
Nature's Opera (Náttúruóperan) is Andri's first play. It is a play about a young man looking for a word instead of love. Because love does not fit the deepest feelings of his heart anymore. It's meaning has been ruined so it just means something close to ”I like you“ or ”fine“ or “good food”. Baldur is the main character, his life is a mess, so he collapses after a dramatic artistic failure that leads to his inner journey to look for the word instead of love. Everything takes place inside his head where he searches through memories with the help of his drives and his inner heart surgeon and his inner psychologist. The heart specialist listening to his heart, his pshychologist with binoculars scanning the horizon. His drives driving everything crazy inside his head.