Of Monsters and Men

Of Monsters and Men
Of Monsters and Men playing in New York City on 5 April 2012
Background information
Origin	Garður/Keflavík/Garðabær, Iceland
Genres	Folk rock
Years active	2010–present
Labels	Record Records, Universal Republic, Republic[1]
Website	www.ofmonstersandmen.com
Members	Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir Ragnar Þórhallsson Brynjar Leifsson Kristján Páll Kristjánsson Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson
Past members	Árni Guðjónsson

Of Monsters and Men is a five-member, English-language,^[2] indie folk-pop^[3][4] band from Reykjavík,^[5] Iceland, formed in 2010. The members are lead singer/guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, co-singer-guitarist Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, guitarist Brynjar Leifsson, drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson and bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson.^[6][7] The band won the Músíktilraunir in 2010, an annual battle of the bands competition in Iceland.^[8] In 2011, Of Monsters and Men released an EP titled Into the Woods. The band's 2011 debut album My Head Is an Animal, reached the No.1 position in Australia, Iceland, Ireland and the U.S. Rock and Alternative Charts, while peaking at No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, No. 3 in the UK, and Top 20 of most European charts and Canada. Its lead single "Little Talks" was an international success, reaching the Top 10 in most music charts in Europe, including No. 1 in Ireland and Iceland, and No. 1 on U.S. Alternative Songs.

Of Monsters and Men won the 2013 European Border Breakers Awards.

History

Formation and early work (2009–10)

The band's origins began in 2009 when Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir decided to add to her solo project, Songbird. Of Monsters and Men entered 2010's Músíktilraunir, an annual music competition held in Iceland, as a quartet with members Nanna (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), Brynjar (electric guitar), Raggi (backing vocals, melodica, glockenspiel), and Arnar (backing vocals, melodica, glockenspiel, tambourine). Raggi came up with the band name, Of Monsters and Men, and everyone else liked it, so it stuck.^[9]

Following Músiktilraunir, the quartet added two more members, Árni (accordion/keys, backing vocals) and Kristján (bass, backing vocals), and continued to tour venues in Iceland and work on new songs.^[10] They were invited to perform at the 2010 Iceland Airwaves festival, and it is there that the Seattle-based radio station KEXP recorded the band performing "Little Talks" from a living room session.^[11]

My Head Is an Animal (2011–13)

Of Monsters and Men performing in October 2011.

The band signed with Record Records in February 2011 for the release of their debut album in Iceland.^[12] In March 2011 they went to Studio Sýrland in Reykjavík to record their debut album. In August 2011, Philadelphia's Radio 104.5 began playing "Little Talks" and propelled the band to nationwide popularity.^[13] Their debut album My Head Is an Animal was released in Iceland in September 2011 with both it and "Little Talks" hitting No. 1.^[6]

With success in Iceland and growing popularity in the United States, the band signed with Universal for a worldwide release of their debut album.^[14] The band released its Into the Woods EP on 20 December 2011, which features four songs from their debut album, and later released My Head Is an Animal in the United States on 3 April 2012.^[15]

The band performed at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, on 29 July 2012, Osheaga Festival in Montreal on 3 August 2012, and then at Lollapalooza in Chicago on 5 August 2012. They have toured in several European countries including Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Sweden.^[16] Of Monsters and Men also appeared 5 October 2012, on the new PBS music show Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders, performing "Mountain Sound".^[17] Later Árni Guðjónsson left the band to go back to school.

Trumpeter Ragnhildur Gunnarsdóttir joined in the 2012 tour, and is simply a session player. The band has not commented on interest to eventually bring her into the band.^[18]

The band performed "Little Talks" and "Mountain Sound" on Saturday Night Live on 4 May 2013,^[19] and performed in the 1st Annual Boston Calling Music Festival on 26 May 2013.^[20] The band also played T in the Park in July 2013, the biggest music festival in Scotland. They performed on both Lollapalooza Brazil and Chile. They also performed at Coachella, on 12 and 19 April 2013. On 26 January 2013, "Little Talks" was voted into the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2012 at number two, a prestigious musical honour in Australia. They appeared at Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, in June 2013 and played at The Other Stage at Glastonbury Festival in that same month. On 14 July 2013, the band performed in Optimus Alive! festival, in Lisbon, Portugal, one of the most popular festivals in Europe.

Their song "Dirty Paws", from which the title of the album originated, was featured in a trailer for the 2013 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and the iPhone 5 introduction video released in September 2012.^[21] They contributed the track "Silhouettes" to the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack. Their song "Sinking Man" is featured on The Walking Dead: AMC Original Soundtrack, Vol. 1.^[22]

Beneath the Skin (2014–present)

The band began working on a new album in August 2013.^[23] In an interview published on 6 May 2014, Nanna stated that the album was forthcoming, but that the band had not decided on a release date yet. They officially began recording on 3 November 2014. At a listening session in February 2015, the band announced that their yet to be named second studio album would release later in the year.^[24] The band posted a teaser video on their site for the album's first single, "Crystals".^[25] It was released on 16 March 2015 along with the track list and other details about their upcoming album Beneath the Skin, set to be released on 8 June.^[26] The album and single artwork was created by artist Leif Podhajsky.^[27]

In May 2015 the band released dates for a tour to promote the up-coming album. The North American leg of the tour ran from 5 August 2015 to 17 October 2015.^[28][29]

The track "Thousand Eyes" featured heavily in the preseason advertising for the Marvel Netflix series Jessica Jones. The band appeared in a cameo on the episodes "The Door" and "Blood of My Blood" of Game of Thrones as stage musicians.^[30]

The band is included on Coachella's 2016 line-up. The band performed in Manila, Philippines on 12 May 2016, where the final song was Yellow Light.

Band members

Current members Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, piano (2010–present) Ragnar Þórhallsson – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, melodica, glockenspiel (2010–present) Brynjar Leifsson – lead guitar, baritone guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, melodica, tambourine, backing vocals (2010–present) Kristján Páll Kristjánsson – bass guitar, acoustic bass guitar, egg shaker, backing vocals (2010–present) Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson – drums, percussion, melodica, glockenspiel, accordion, keyboard, piano, acoustic guitar, backing vocals (2010–present)

Former members Árni Guðjónsson – accordion, piano, organ, keyboards, backing vocals (2010–2012) Touring members Ragnhildur Gunnarsdóttir – trumpet, accordion, keyboards, piano, floor tom-tom drum, backing vocals (2010–present) Steingrimur Karl Teague – piano, keyboards, accordion, backing vocals (2012–present) Bjarni Þór Jensson – guitar, percussion, keyboards (2015–present) Sigrún Kristbjörg Jónsdóttir – trombone, percussion, accordion (2015–present)

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions												Certifications
		AUS [31]	AUT [32]	BEL [33]	CAN [34]	FRA [35]	GER [36]	IRE [37]	NL [38]	NZ [39]	SWI [40]	UK [41]	US [34]
My Head Is an Animal	Released: 20 September 2011 (Iceland) 3 April 2012 (North America) 27 April 2012 (Europe) Label: Republic Records Formats: CD, digital download, vinyl	1	17	14	4	55	4	1	5	4	29	3	6	ARIA: Platinum[42] BPI: Gold[43] BVMI: Platinum[44] IRMA: Platinum[43] MC: 2× Platinum[45] RIAA: Platinum[46] RMNZ: Platinum[47]
Beneath the Skin	Released: 8 June 2015 (Iceland) 9 June 2015 (Elsewhere) Label: Republic Records Formats: CD, digital download, vinyl	4	20	23	1	62	10	3	17	10	6	10	3	MC: Gold[48]
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Live albums

Title	Album details
Live from Vatnagarðar	Released: 10 December 2013 Label: Republic Records Format: Digital download

Extended plays

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US [34]	US Alt. [34]
Into the Woods EP	Released: 20 December 2011 (United States) Label: Republic Records Formats: CD, digital download, vinyl	108	18

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions										Certifications	Album
		AUS [31]	BEL [33]	CAN [34]	GER [36]	IRE [49]	NZ [39]	SWI [40]	UK [41]	US [34]	US Alt. [34]
"Little Talks"	2012	7	3	55	5	1	4	24	12	20	1	ARIA: 6× Platinum[50] BPI: Platinum BVMI: 3× Gold[51] IFPI SWI: Gold[52] MC: 3× Platinum[53] RIAA: 4× Platinum[54] RMNZ: 2× Platinum[55]	My Head Is an Animal
"Mountain Sound"		29	53	69	—	28	22	—	66	103	2	ARIA: Platinum[56] MC: Gold[57] RIAA: Platinum [58] RMNZ: Gold[59]
"Dirty Paws"	2013	—	—	—	—	—	35	75	—	—	19	ARIA: Platinum[60] MC: Gold[57] RMNZ: Gold[61] RIAA: Platinum[54]
"King and Lionheart"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	17
"Crystals"	2015	94	80	84	—	—	—	—	—	—	4		Beneath the Skin
"Empire"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	27
"Wolves Without Teeth"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	29
"—" denotes singles that were not released, or did not chart.

Other appearances

Title	Year	Album
"Silhouettes"	2013	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Title	Year	Album
"Sinking Man"	2013	The Walking Dead: AMC Original Soundtrack, Vol. 1

Accolades

Year	Organization	Nominated work	Award	Result
2012	MTV Video Music Awards	"Little Talks"	Best Art Direction	Nominated
	MTV Europe Music Awards	Of Monsters and Men	Best Push Act	Nominated
2013	ECHO Awards	My Head Is an Animal	Best International Newcomer	Nominated
			Best International Rock/Pop Group	Nominated
	Juno Awards	"Little Talks"	Video of the Year	Nominated
	Billboard Music Awards	My Head Is an Animal	Top Rock Album	Nominated

References

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