Thu, 02 Jan 2020
Of Monsters and Men is an amiable group of five day dreamers who craft folkie pop songs. But last year, the normally mild-mannered six pack transformed into total rock stars after stomping out their competition during Músiktilraunir, a yearly battle of the bands in their native Iceland.
“We just kind of…won,” recalls co-singer/guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir. “We weren’t expecting it at all. So I said, ‘Everybody come to my place!’” Beer-swilling friends spilled out of her flat. “I was like, ‘Oh fuck, my neighbors aren’t liking me right now.’”
Those neighbors won’t be making noise complaints anymore. With the group’s bright, trumpeting single “Little Talks” winning over one blog at a time, Nanna and her bandmates (co-singer/guitarist Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson, guitarist Brynjar Leifsson, drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, and bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson) are well on their way to becoming citizens of the world.
Their rapid rise transpired in just one year. 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, ... More Biography