So last night I went

So last night I went to see MUM at the Women’s Theater. In case you’re one of the few people I haven’t already told about MUM, they’re this band I’ve only recently heard one or two songs by. I went so far as to buy a couple of their CDs (new off ebay, of all places), which I have yet to receive in the mail, and the first song I heard of theirs, (which I downloaded from a link on victory shag), I’ve had stuck in my head for about two weeks straight. I described their music today to a friend as complex minimalistic melodies from female Icelandic twin vocalists.

It was MUM’s first show in the United States, and I’m affraid they’re going to turn around and leave after what happened last night. The sound crew (which I presume was the theater’s staff) was just awful, and their first 2 or 3 songs were riddled with feedback and poor mixing. Their Moog never worked, despite various idiots swapping out cords (on stage!) for the duration of at least two songs in the middle of their set.

I felt horribly for the poor lead singers who were both visibly frustrated by the technical difficulties. At one point, one of them was actually wiping tears from under her eyes. (And yet she kept singing and playing!)

Over all, the band’s potential was clear. Their drummer was amazing, the twins played accordion and cello quite well (when we could hear the cello), and all five performers switched instruments between nearly every song. I would even go so far as to say the show was “worth it” despite all the technical problems.

I also enjoyed the fact that most of the beats and “programmed” portions of the music were done on Mac laptops–including one of those new “wide” iBooks that I secretly covet.