6.8.2008
venuszine.com 4 stars - By Jenny An Icelandic Örn Elías Guðmundsson creates music — although what genre it falls under is harder to put a finger on. With a guitar, a computer, and a variety of yelps, screams, and other throat tricks in his arsenal, Mugison mixes blues, rock, and folk on his third full-length. He’s added a drummer and bassist to his one-man band formula, and the result is more accessible than his previous efforts, but with enough quirk to satisfy.

The opening title track, “Mugiboogie,” is a sexy, rockified, big band number. Mugison growls before jumping into lines like, “I love the way she’s looking at me / Like I was a fruit, hanging in her tree,” and a steady drum beat makes you want to get up and perhaps even boogie.

“Jesus Is a Good Name To Moan” pairs thrashing cymbals and a wall of noise with snarly, snarky vocals. The overtly sexual (and deliciously sacrilegious) song never takes itself too seriously. Mugison asks a lady to touch “his private parts,” and to “do that quote from the Bible” into the phone. After heavy reverb and a smashing snare hit, “Jesus” ends and goes straight into “George Harrison,” a stripped down, guitar-driven folk number. His voice gains a raspy quality and he employs a xylophone, keeping one of the album's least innovative songs from being boring.

One of the most impressive things about Mugiboogie is the way Mugison’s voice morphs depending on what genre he’s playing. Though it’s impressive to nail both the metal hiss and the singer-songwriter croon, it almost cuts up the album — making you wonder if it was all the same guy. Mugiboogie might be too disjointed to be the album for your drive home, but there’s something undeniable about it.

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