Victoria Abraham defines one up and coming artist each week so you can impress your friends with your musical brilliance. This week, she tackles Of Monsters and Men, an indie folk band from Iceland.
Six-piece band Of Monsters and Men have provided our ears with a seductive mix of slightly dark lyrics set to music that is fun to sing along to. Their songs remain fantastical, while drawing inspiration from random stories the band members have read. With shows all over the world from Brazil and Chile to Germany, Of Monsters and Men are definitely carving a niche for themselves. Now they just need to come out with a “how-to” guide for the pronunciation of their names.
Origins: Garour, Iceland
Band members: Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir (co-lead vocals, guitar), Ragnar Þórhallsson (co-lead vocals, guitar, melodica, glockenspiel), Brynjar Leifsson (guitar, melodica, backing vocals), Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson (drums, percussion, melodica, glockenspiel, backing vocals), Kristján Páll Kristjánsson (bass, backing vocals), Árni Guðjónsson (accordion/keys, backing vocals)
Known for: They are known for their delicious folksy sound and Nanna’s unique voice.
Used in a sentence: Listening to Of Monsters and Men, it’s hard to know if you’re meant to be happy or sad, but the ambiguity is kind of nice.
File next to: Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Download now: “Little Talks”
Five fun facts:
1. Before Of Monsters and Men, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir had her own solo project called Songbird.
2. Their song “Six Weeks” is inspired by the true story of American frontiersman Hugh Glass who was thought dead after a bear attack
Tebowing gone very wrong
Seventeen-year-old Josh Ehrenberg was mowing the lawn at home in Pennsylvania, just minding his business like any other day. Out of nowhere a bald man wearing glasses drove up in his Chrysler, got out of the car and knocked Ehrenberg off his lawnmower by “close-lining” him. As if that wasn’t weird enough, the guy “Tebowed” after Ehrenberg fell off. For those who don’t know, “Tebowing” is the act of praying just like Tim Tebow, a quarterback for the New York Jets. He always prays before or after he gets off the field. So naturally, you would stop and pray after pushing someone off a lawnmower? Weirdo.
Canadians love Maple Syrup
Millions of dollars worth of maple syrup was stolen from a St. Louis-De-Blandford facility in Quebec leading a lot of people to say “Canada, you had one job and you MESSED IT UP!” The facility holds 10 million pounds of maple syrup for distribution mainly when there are bad years and not enough can be harvested. All I can say is if I don’t have maple syrup on my pancakes this year, because of whoever stole it, I am going to cry! We Canadians love our Maple Syrup!
Women joins search party that is looking for her
A tour group near Eldgja Canyon, Iceland thought they lost a tourist after she got off the bus to freshen up. The woman discreetly returned and joined the search party without realizing they were looking for her the whole time. About 50 people searched for a few hours until they eventually figured it out. That would’ve been pretty embarrassing, how the hell did those people not recognize it was her though? When she changed clothes did she change into a full cat-women costume with a mask or something? I don’t understand.
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