If you missed it, my top impact prospects for 2012 piece went up yesterday, as did my quick reaction to Yoennis Cespedes signing with Oakland. My first draft blog post of the year went up today, talking SoCal high school kids, including probable top ten picks Luc Giolito and Max Fried.
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I caught Of Monsters and Men’s debut single, “Little Talks,” on XMU over the weekend and became borderline-obsessed with it after just that one listen. The band won the Músiktilraunir, an Icelandic national battle of the bands, in 2010, although a look at the winners list tells me that doesn’t typically mean much beyond the small island’s coastlines. (The 2001 winner, Andlát, was a death metal act whose name translates as – wait for it – “Death.”) Of Monsters and Men seems ready to break out internationally on the strength of that single and the forthcoming album My Head is An Animal, which earned very strong reviews when it was released in Iceland last fall. I can’t profess much experience with Icelandic folk music, so it’s easier for me to define them in terms of other genres, and their first EP release, Into the Woods, shows a pretty broad base of styles that call to mind Arcade Fire, Mumford and Sons, Doves, ska-punk, Irish folk music, and – of course – a little Sugarcubes too. (It’s on amazon
.)
“Little Talks” is the song to buy if you only want to buy one track, an upbeat horn-driven track with a riveting call-and-response vocal track from the group’s two lead singers, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson, the former singing about losing her tether to reality while the latter, her lover, tries to comfort her while expressing his grief at watching her mind wither. The most poignant back-and-forth gives the song its title, as Hilmarsdóttir sings, “There’s an old voice in my head that’s/holding me back,” to which Þórhallsson responds, “Well tell her that I miss our little talks.” Yet this story is layered over a hybrid of Irish drinking songs and the short-lived ska-punk movement of the mid-1990s, complete with raise-your-glasses shouts punctuating the gap in the lyrics following each chorus. I couldn’t get it out of my head after the first listen.
The other three tracks on the EP are all strong, but nothing is similar to “Little Talks” in style or feel. “Love Love Love,” the next-best track, reminded me a little of Norah Jones meets Alison Krauss, with Hilmarsdóttir expressing regret to a lover whose affection she can’t quite return. The closing track, “From Finner,” is probably the most Mumford-ish, with a gloomy percussion-heavy shuffle behind mournful vocals, ending each chorus with a “we’re so ha-ppy” that I don’t think we’re really supposed to believe. “Six Weeks” is your Arcade Fire-influenced track, heavier on the drums as well with a marching, almost Bonham-esque beat that shares the front of the stage with the group vocals. All four tracks appear on the full album, due out in April, but I wasn’t going to wait that long to get “Little Talks” on my iPod. It’s the best new song I’ve heard in at least a full year.
Heard the song 2 months ago and have been a huge fan ever since. Will have to check out their other songs.
I also heard this song a few months back, and haven’t stopped looping it since. My only complaint – it’s so much louder than my other mp3s that it tries to blow out my eardrums every time I listen to it. (And I mean that in the best possible way.)
Thanks for the tip! Bit of Stars in there.
I came across it a couple of weeks ago and had the exact same, semi-obsessive reaction (as did my 10 yr old daughter – not sure what that says about me).
Did you ever hear Sleepy Tigers by Her Space Holiday? Gives off a very similar feel to me.
Great observation on the Irish drinking song roots on this song Keith, I didn’t put those dots together until you helped connect them for me. Just a fantastic, catchy song all around, like others I heard it recently and can’t shake it from my head either. Hoping for more big things from this band, the talent and feeling are there; this song packs in more emotion than most movies can in a two hour time frame.
Phenomenal recommendation on the music, Keith. You’re right that all songs on the EP (or what you want to call it) are all strong, and you have the best two pegged. Little Talk is reminiscent of Mumford and other indie folk songs (of which I am a fan), but it actually reminded me most of Edward Sharpe’s “Home”. They both have very provincial, folksy tune and lyricism, with the male-female back-and-forth. I like “Home” well enough, but “Little Talk” is, at least so far, better. I’m not sure if I see that much Her Space Holiday (what I’ve heard is more electronic) or Stars (more shoegaze), though. I enjoy both bands to varying degrees (Stars more than HSH). In fact, aside from “Home”, no other comps immediately arise.
Seems like Edward and the magnetic zeros. Check them out more depth than this group but thx for the heads up!
Thanks for the info, klaw. Spot on.
Little Talks has actually been playing pretty frequently on some of the radio stations around Baltimore. I’ve listened to their CD several times already, it’s very enjoyable.
Saw them in Reykjavík at their hometown Iceland Airwaves festival last fall; great stuff. Excellent live performers.
Thanks for the tip., Klaw. Heard you mention these guys on Baseball Today a while back, bought My Head Is An Animal on holiday in Iceland, now can’t stop playing it.