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Mugison
Mugiboogie

(Ipecac)

US release date: 19 August 2008

UK release date: 7 July 2008
by Thomas Hauner

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The rhapsodic raptures juxtaposed with distortion-fueled vexations that encompass Mugiboogie in one way outline the singer/songwriter Örn Elías Guðmundsson’s own spectrum of conscience: equal parts attrition and audacity. But this emotional and musical mélange seems to be as immanently Mugison (Guðmundsson’s guise) as it is Icelandic.

Under his musical moniker—named by drunken Malaysians one night in 2001 (his father’s nickname is Mugi)—Guðmundsson blithely personifies much of the contrast between his island nation’s bright exterior and murky undercurrent. As he described in a 2005 Paste interview, using polished American superheroes to contrast, in Iceland, “It’s nearly like a fascination with murderers, misfits, the lowlifes—they always win ... the stories always conclude like, ‘Yeah, he’s the winner,’ even though he had three wives, was a bad father, and went bankrupt 20 times.” The innate mix of realism, despair and humor that inhibit Icelanders’ conscience makes for well-adjusted fishermen who don’t take things too seriously, he claims. That partially explains the title to his celebrated sophomore release, Mugimama, Is This Monkey Music?, and other whimsical gestures. On his latest, the song, “Jesus is a Good Name to Moan”, is an apt example of such dark humor and the synthesis between Guðmundsson’s scope of styles. His favorite part of the song comes when an audience full of girls moans along in unison, but scorching effects and nose-diving guitar lines can suggest a darker interpretation.