Múm are a band that just get better and better with age. Their first album, "Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Is Ok" was a bright, carefree slab of IDM, their second album, "Finally We Are No One" took the style and sound of the original, and made it ten times more ornate and sophisticated. True to form, on their third album, "Summer Make Good", not only do the band take further steps, darkening the sound considerably and making it sound a lot more "organic", but they also have produced a record that is more compelling, more interesting, and more accomplished than their predecessors.

The band has never been known to stick to conventional sounds, and on this album, they stick to that. The instrumentation here is familiar enough, some acoustic guitars, various forms of percussion, a piano here and there, and of course a cavalcade of various electronic beeps and boops. What sets Múm apart is the way in which they employ these instruments, using these somewhat mundane sounds to put together music which sounds like it's come from another planet.

Like on previous albums, the thing which makes the music sound so otherworldly is the childlike, lisping vocals of Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir. Occasionally faintly reminiscent of Björk, her self-consciously stunted vocal delivery, on paper, should be an absolute disaster, but for some reason, it works with the music of Múm. Perhaps it's the childlike naïvety of her voice, mixed with the feeling of the music itself, which sounds like something out of a child's fairytale.

The main difference between "Finally We Are No One" and this record though, lies in the tone. Where that record occasionally went downbeat for a couple of minutes here and there, "Summer Make Good" is for the most part sad, downcast, and even spooky in a few places. If you don't believe me, take a look at Weeping, Weeping Rock, one of the most song-like tracks that Múm have ever recorded, with its dark imagery of shipwrecks and storms. The Ghosts You Draw On My Back overflows with gentle resignation and sorrow, while Nightly Cares fades in slowly at a funereal pace, with a simple, achingly pretty music-box melody.

Not to take anything away from the instrumentalists in Múm either. Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar þóreyjarson Smárason put on their usual fine performance, producing some music that isn't danceable, isn't mainstream, but is still laden with more hooks than a fishing kit. You only need to look at the musical interludes on the album such as Hú Hviss (A Ship) and Small Deaths Are The Saddest to see that not only do these guys know what they're doing, they also know exactly how to set up their music for the maximum amount of musical impact.

"Summer Make Good" is an exceptional album that doesn't really make any significant mis-steps. The recurring theme of ships and the sea gives the band an anchor (Ed: Craig insisted we leave this awful pun in. Don't blame us.) to base their music around. It's theatric without being overbearing, dark without being murky, and inventive without being obtuse. When we look back on 2004, we'll think about this album as one of the musical highlights of the year.