I'm listening to ...Nina Nesbitt

A lot of you may know Nina Nesbitt, aka singer/songwriter of Stay Out and Ed Sheeran's latest gal pal. And I'm girl crushing hard.  

A while back, I heard Boy while browsing Youtube and presently shoved it straight on my iPod - and I'm ashamed to say I kind of forgot about it. Recently I heard a familiar sweet voice on the chart show - and there was wee Nina was her latest hit Stay Out. Needless to say, my love affair with Miss Nesbitt was well and truly rekindled. 

18 year old Scottish Nina has already supported both Ed Sheeran and Example and is now making her own waves in the music scene, so far reaching an impressive 21 on the official chart with Stay Out. What I find shocking is that her 2012 debut single Boy only reached 139 on the chart, I mean what?! This song is amazing, the lyrics are deep and sparkling with emotion and of course her beautiful voice is totally addictive. Seriously, I've had this song on repeat so much I'm surprised I haven't broken it. Check it.

I love Nina's style in Stay Out, it's right up my street. Also got some serious hair envy. But yeah, the music. Still acoustic  folky and upbeat, it's literally just the perfect getting ready, chilling out tune and I love the fact that she gets ID'd in the vid. Some verisimilitude, I like it! 

She tackles the issues that most of us girls go through, but she spins them into insightful and enchanting songs with innocently ethereal vocals. Plus, she's a total style icon. Definitely one to watch, and perfect music for Summer. You will love. 

You'll enjoy if you like

Ed Sheeran ♦ Gabrielle Aplin ♦ Ellie Goulding ♦ Belle and Sebastian 

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.