11.2.2006
Chord Magazine
MUGISON
Little Trip [Ipecac]
[Fans of Tom Waits, Beck, and Prince take note.]
Iceland's bizarre hero Mugison has returned on the heels of the 2005 U.S. release of his under-heralded masterpiece, Mugimama, Is This Monkey Music?. Except that this isn't a proper follow-up, but rather the soundtrack to the Baltasar Kormkur-directed, Forest Whitaker/Julia Stiles joint A Little Trip to Heaven. According to various Sundance raves, this psychological thriller is rife with bleak grittiness, and listening to these tracks, that's not hard to believe. On "Go Blind," Mugi wails over scruffy guitars and gut-wrenched horns, resulting in one of his finest tracks to date. And yet, a cover of Tom Waits' "Little Trip to Heaven" follows, and he proves that he can melt a listener's heart just as easily as he can melt her face. Understandably, many of these short compositions seem to lack context, especially for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, but they still manage to set an intriguing atmosphere that forces one to wonder what treasures the flick may hold. Plus, bonus track "Murr Murr v2" will please any longtime Mugison fan, as he jams out on a reprise of "Murr Murr" (from Mugimama), which won him Song of the Year honors at the 2004 Icelandic Music Awards. Check out this guy quick, because he'll win over your friends next.
-Austin L. Ray
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