Episode 011 : Mum
Listen (TRT 30:56): Lo-Fi > Higher-Fi > Quicktime | Shop | Recommendations
Mum (pronounced 'moom') started making music in Iceland in 1998 after Gunnar Tynes, Orvar Smirason and twin sisters Kristin Valtysdottir and Gyda Valtysdottir brought together their love of classical, hardcore, and computer music to create something completely unique.
Mum is a mixture of the old and new, technological and acoustic, male and female, structure and mood and atmosphere. Incorporating instruments as diverse as the melodica, glockenspiel, accordian, keyboards, trumpet, viola, stroh-violin, bowed musical saw, pump organ, Chinese harp, and banjo, Mum revels in both the warmth of these instruments and in laptops and computers to create a cooler, less-than-human touch. Together, Mum creates hypnotizing songs and soothing soundscapes.
Although they are now usually known as Ellen Christenson and Irene Saletan, back in 1956 the identical twins were best known in New York's folk scene as The Kossoy Sisters--where they released "Bowling Green," their first LP of traditional music, at the ripe age of 17. 
