What I'm Listening to .. Of Monsters and Men

Did anyone else read the book Of Mice and Men at GCSE? No? Well it doesn't matter, because this band has nothing to do with it.

They're actually an Icelandic six-piece folk band, which admittedly doesn't actually sound that appealing, but trust me, you'll love them.

Great styling too, don't you think?

Chances are, a lot of you will have already heard their debut single, Little Talks, but if you haven't, you need to right now. What I like so much about this song is that it's good, proper music, it's utterly catchy without the bleeps and bloops you get in 'songs' to these days. I think it actually has a kinda ska feel to it, because of the brass instruments used.

I also love the music video. I happened upon it whilst channel flicking the other day and was entranced - it's deliciously gothic and reminds me of that book, Where the Wild things are. I'm drawn to weird things, so I immediately jumped on Google and looked into the group.

The members are: Singer/guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, singer/guitarist Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, guitarist Brynjar Leifsson, drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, piano/accordion player Árni Guðjónsson, and bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson, but they also recruited trumpet player Ragnhildur Gunnarsdótti into the mix for their 2012 tour. Props to anyone who can pronounce their names. 

Here's a live version of the song too, how beautiful Ragnar's voice? Swoooooon 

Trumpet solo! The music industry needs more trumpets, fer serious.

I only wish I'd discovered them sooner, I've been looking for some new music to listen too for quite some time so I'm seriously gonna get their album! Incidentally, if you guys are listening to some cool jamz at the moment, drop me some names, my iPod needs something fresh. 

☺

You'll like this group if you enjoy:

♦ Mumford and sons ♦ Ellie Goulding ♦ Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Chucking another song out to you, Dirty Paws.

Their album, My Head is an Animal, is out now.