About six months ago I received a promo packet in the mail about an upstart little band called Mumpsy. With a list of guest musicians as long as my arm, a concept album about three people who can’t decide who to love, and a sound I couldn’t define it sat on my shelf for quite awhile. To be fair it actually sat on my brother’s shelf for quite awhile. You see I used to live in China, in a place you can’t easily mail albums to, so all my promos and other materials were opened, scanned, ripped, etc., by my little brother who then emailed the goodies on to me. It just happened to be I received this album a few weeks before moving to South Korea and then two weeks after that I began the long journey home here to the Midwest. Anyway, in the ensuing travel, unpack, madness, life, I lost this promo album I had received. But now it is found.
Although the album is titled 3 People (iTunes), the band is seemingly made up of anyone and their brother, the signature sound of Mumpsy emanates from one central character, Jeff Ilgenfritz. And although this album is billed as a dance/rave mixture on his label’s website it is nothing of the sort. Jeff cleverly mixes together a certain style of sixties retro folk with upbeat, albeit acoustic, dance beats to create something akin to a modern day Kinks or Beatles sound. There’s a lot of room for play in the five song EP and each song casually nudges your head to nodding and feet to tapping along with the stories Jeff sings. Although the concept of the album, which is described at length in the album notes, falls a bit short the aural aesthetic of the disc does not. This is what solid new folk dance music sounds like. And if you’re confused just listen to these tracks.
mp3 : Mumpsy - Iowa City
mp3 : Mumpsy - You Glued My Broken Heart
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