The DIY, one-man-band approach of earlier albums by this Icelandic artist is here replaced by a proper group, which distances his nose a fraction from his navel without sacrificing the self-absorption and idiosyncrasies that made previous releases so bracing. Yes, it’s bonkers, but Mugiboogie is also impassioned and fierce: tracks such as the ripped-from-the-chest Jesus Is a Good Name to Moan, which recalls I Want You (She’s So Heavy), the equally (and appropriately) Beatlesy George Harrison and the falsetto-voiced anti-chauvinist diatribe The Animal may contain elements of playfulness, but they are also entirely convincing as heartfelt expressions of the state of things in the Mugi mind. Like Beck, Mugison can’t resist a musical tangent. Consequently, the album veers all over the place. Yet, as Deep Breathing’s lulling folk melody and alternately glacial and warming strings so amply demonstrate, Mugison’s juxtapositions are never less than deadly.

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