The Most Interesting Man in the World?
I realized recently that I had Mugiboogie by Mugison in heavy rotation, so I decided to reach out to the man himself through the magic of email and he graciously replied to some interview questions from his home in the West Fjords of Iceland. Listening to his music and reading his responses to my questions has led me to one conclusion: with apologies to the Dos Equis Guy, I believe Mugison may be the Most Interesting Man in the World! Below I present my evidence.
1. The Mirstument! I asked what he has been working on lately, and Mugison said “I´ve been working on this setup I call the Mirstument for the last 6 months. Me and my friend started this pet-project 3 years ago to make something out of all my controllers. Now it´s finally working (it was always blowing up… because we had no clue about electricity and stuff) – that might be something I´ll focus on for the next few months – not sure what will come out of it.”
2. Mugiboogie! Both the title track and the album are fantastic. The song Mugiboogie, which kicks off the album, is a rousing blues/soul stomp that would make Jack White jealous. Some songs that follow are full band rockers with distorted guitars and feedback while others are closer to the “the singer and his acoustic guitar” vibe, all with lots of interesting production details. Vocals range from straight ahead singing to growls to falsetto. It has diverse styles, but holds together as a whole; it’s a fun musical journey and you will never get bored.
3. He’s in another band…with his dad! I noticed a reference to a “Papamug” on his website and asked if that was his father. He replied “Yes – he was called Muggi – now he´s Papmug. We´ve actually just started a band together called ‘papas and the papas.’ We mostly play Whitney Houston – I´m playing the Mirstument and he sings and does all solos on his Trombone.”
4. He helps run a music festival you’ll probably never get to see! I asked Mugison to tell me about the annual Aldrei Music Festival mentioned on his website. “It´s a silly festival that me and my father made 10 years ago with our friends. We wanted to do a festival that would be the opposite to most festivals…turn things up-side down. Everybody can only play for 20-25 min, there is no soundcheck, just one stage, and everybody had to just plug whatever in and start. There is no special logic how we do the lineup. It´s in a really remote town in the middle of the winter…we wanted to make it hard for people to come…only the ones that are willing to make a lot of effort to come…drive for 7-9 hours…there are very few hotel-rooms available so most people have to get to know someone in the village to make it work.” Check out this amazing photo from the festival website:
5. He’s no “one trick pony!” Mugison incorporates many influences and styles into his music. He sent me a list of favorites; the list was as diverse as his music. He named about 25, but finally said “…ahh the list could go on for ages…” He mentioned the well-known and long-serving like The Beatles and Tom Waits, the relatively more recent like Four Tet and Caribou, and the more under-the-radar like Bogdan Raczynski and Cornelius.
6. He got into music for… time travel! Often you hear musicians got into music for fame, fortune, or girls. Not so for Mugison: “I got into music because of the time-travel, both when I´m listening to music and when I´m playing or making it. Something happens to how times passes that I really like. It´s always been like this for me, that´s what got me into it. It´s not like it´s a total happy place, or sad place, I just like the time-thing. “ Great description; I’m guessing anyone with a passion of their own can relate to his feelings.
7. Something he called “Mugimama, Is This Monkey Music?” won awards! It’s actually the album he released in 2004 and it won him his first Icelandic Music Awards. The music on this one sounds to me like a slightly more askew dEUS album produced by Portishead. Warm acoustic guitar and vocals mixed up with crazy production elements. It’s all over the place musically, in a good way! And the sweet closing track includes, apparently, some harmonica music by his grandfather.
8. He has the best-selling album in Icelandic history! According to his website, Haglél (which he released in late 2011) has sold over 30,000 copies. Certainly not “Thriller” numbers, but Iceland is fairly small, so this is a big accomplishment. It also won Mugison numerous awards at the 2012 Icelandic Music Awards. Step aside Björk and Sigur Rós! Haglél, by the way, is sung all in his native tongue. Some of the wilder production and more extreme edges of many of his earlier songs are toned down a bit, but it’s still Mugison and you’ll still enjoy it…even if you don’t speak Icelandic.
So there you go. Interesting man, am I right? While we look forward to what may be next, you can listen to and buy (at very reasonable prices) any of his music at his website (here). He also told me he’ll be playing the Sonar Reykjavik in February and then touring with fellow Icelanders Of Monsters and Men through Europe, so catch him live if you can!
But, aside from the live shows, what IS next for Mugison? I asked if there would be new music forthcoming. He said “Not sure, I never know if it will take 1 year or 10 years. There are enough songs but I´m not sure what´s gonna happen next. I was hoping the Mirstument would take over – but now I´m kind of just learning how to play it, one button at a time. I hope there will be a new album this year.” Me too!