Of Monsters And Men My Head Is An Animal on 2LP + Download

Of Monsters and Men is an amiable group of day dreamers who craft folkie pop songs. With the Icelandic group's bright, trumpeting single "Little Talks" winning over one blog at a time, Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir and her bandmates (co-singer/guitarist Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, guitarist Brynjar Leifsson, drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, piano/accordion player Árni Guðjónsson, and bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson) are well on their way to becoming citizens of the world.

Nanna, who began as the acoustic act Songbird, recruited extra hands to bolster her sound for a solo show. She liked how her vocals commingled with Raggi's, so they started writing songs together and in 2010 morphed into Of Monsters and Men. As victors of 2010's Músiktilraunir, the new group earned a slot on the influential Iceland Airwaves festival later that year, followed by Seattle's radio station KEXP posting "Little Talks" from a Living Room Session filmed there, setting the telltale ripple effect in motion. By the summer of 2011 "Little Talks" hit #1 in the band's native country, and "people around the world seemed to be listening to us," marvels Raggi. The band was asked to perform again at Iceland Airwaves 2011, where KEXP then anointed the group as "easily the most buzzed about band."

Though their reach is growing broader, the group's appeal has remained distinct. Their music is as fantastical as it is pretty. For inspiration, they often reference random stories they've read. The chanting, tribal "Six Weeks" was inspired by the true tale of American frontiersman Hugh Glass, seemingly left for dead after a bear attack. As for the swelling, epic "From Finner," "it's about a whale that has a house on its back" says Raggi "on which people travel across the ocean, exploring different places and having adventures." "Little Talks," explores loneliness and insanity, while "Love Love Love" ruefully ruminates on heartbreak. "If you listen to the lyrics, they're not as uplifting," he says. "But our music is meant to be fun to sing along to."

Their full-length debut, My Head Is an Animal immediately reached #1 in their native Iceland and will now see its worldwide release via Universal Records. The album features production by Of Monsters and Men, Aron Amaarsson and Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Modest Mouse, Cold War Kids) while Craig Silvey (Florence + The Machine, Arcade Fire) handled mixing duties. My Head Is An Animal sounds like a dream and its pure bliss to listen to!

Of Monsters And Men My Head Is An Animal Track Listing:

1.  Dirty Paws
2.  King and Lionheart
3.  Mountain Sound
4.  Slow and Steady
5.  From Finner
6.  Little Talks
7.  Six Weeks
8.  Love Love Love
9.  Your Bones
10. Sloom
11. Lakehouse
12. Yellow Light