Nico Muhly - Mothertongue - Bedroom Community

Though not strictly Icelandic (he was born in Vermont), Nico Muhly’s second album “Mothertongue” is released by Icelandic label Bedroom Community, was partly recorded in Iceland and features Icelandic musicians Valgeir Sigurðsson and Helgi Jónsson among others.

The follow up to his 2006 debut “Speaks Volumes,” the record emphasizes communication (a strong theme for Muhly), in particular languages and voices, which are treated here as exquisite instruments: the click of the teeth, the tap of the tongue, the smack of the lips, etc.

The record is filled with jittery, anxious repetitions and jarring chords intended to suggest the nauseating atmosphere of international jet lag and airport stultification (along with more mundane domestic anxieties). For the title track, Muhly layered the voice of Abigail Fischer, a mezzo-soprano, singing all the addresses at which she has ever lived on top of recordings of another friend taking a shower, eating toast, and frying an egg.