The Egg Presents: múm/Sova

With support from Sova

múm (pronunciation: [muːm] – moom) are an exploratory Icelandic musical group whose music is characterized by experiments in electronic music, soft vocals, glitch beats, innovative sampling and eerie effects with a variety of traditional and unconventional instruments. The band was formed in 1997 by original members Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Smárason and has since released six full albums, as well as a mountain of other music, singles, EPs, collaborations, theatre and film music.

Notable projects and collaborations:
- In 2013 múm released a single with Kylie Minogue, "Whistle," from the film Jack & Diane, for which the band composed the original score the year before.
- In 2015 múm wrote a special piece named "Drowning" with German pianist and composer Hauschka, commissioned by the MDR Sinfonieorchester in Leipzig and performed that summer.
- A recent extracurricular project is a semi-improvised electronic music score to the silent film Menschen am Sonntag (1930).
- A special performance at Iceland Airwaves Festival 2016 in collaboration with the Kronos Quartet, playing songs from múm's back catalog at Harpa Concert Hall.
- In 2019 múm released a 20-year anniversary edition of their 1999 debut album Yesterday was Dramatic, Today is OK, and followed with an anniversary tour of Europe and China. The U.S. leg of the tour, scheduled for spring 2020, was postponed because of the global pandemic.

“Ghostly, delicate, elegant…” (Independent Clauses)

For Sova — the moniker of Upstate New York–based pianist/composer Sophia Vastek — the piano has always been home. A second-generation pianist, she holds a deep reverence for her history, coupled with an exploratory ear, and moves quietly between musical worlds. Described as performing with "passion and profound tenderness" (Second Inversion) and "serene strokes and lyrical beauty" (Brooklyn Rail), her intuitive playing style has evolved into a dynamic, cinematic sound that blends neoclassical, ambient, and jazz sensibilities.

Sova’s new record Alight! is due out September 4 via Hout Records: "contemporary neoclassical with cinematic depth… an experience where the piano serves as the emotional core while immersive arrangements, ambient textures, and subtle distortion continuously widen the sonic horizon." (R+)

Contributors on Alight!:
- Spencer Zahn (fretless bass guitar)
- Clarice Jensen (cello)
- Evan Chapman (drums & electronics)
- Max Yassky (drums)
- Sam Torres (saxophone and more)

In Our Softening (2022), produced in collaboration with Sam Torres (Polymouth Music), features nine of her original piano compositions. The album was called "a tender and revelatory balm" by editors at I Care If You Listen, "heaven on earth" (Sun 13), and "one of the very best things I’ve heard all year" by longtime music journalist Steve Smith (Night After Night).

Her music has been released on OPIA (the record label founded by Ólafur Arnalds), Innova Recordings, and more. Her debut album, Histories (2017), was produced by Grammy-winning engineer Adam Abeshouse and described as "a beautiful mosaic of the larger cultural intersections of our world" (Second Inversion). She has also released an EP of the complete solo piano works by composer Lili Boulanger (1893–1918), entitled Lili (2020, reissued 2023).

In 2022, Sova was recognized as a composer by the New York State Council on the Arts and New York Foundation for the Arts (NYSCA/NYFA) as a Music/Sound Fellow.