A Monstrous Rise

Iceland's Of Monsters And Men are folk-pop's sleeping giants. In 2012 the collective sprang from apparently nowhere with their rousing hit, Little Talks, and fantastical debut album, My Head Is An Animal. They toured Australia with Splendour In The Grass, selling out side-shows. But even now the media is still catching up (last year The Guardian tagged OM&M “the biggest group you've never heard of”).

During their Splendour visit last year, the band – co-lead singer/guitarist Ragnar Pórhallsson, guitarist Brynjar Leifsson, second co-lead (and sole female) Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson and keysman/accordionist Árni Gudjónsson and drummer/percussionist Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson – indulged in touristy experiences, visiting a koala sanctuary. Not long after, Of Monsters & Men were confirmed to return to Australia for Laneway.

The Reykjavík-based band, formed in 2009, couldn't be more astonished to have an Australian fanbase. My Head... actually surfaced here prior to the UK. Yet OM&M are especially huge in the US, where radio discovered Little Talks early on. They're now the highest-charting Icelandic act in that country ever, with My Head... reaching number six. “That was a big surprise,” says Pórhallsson, disbelieving that OM&M “beat” Björk and Sigur Rós. He's unclear why the Americans have embraced them, although the recent folk revival, in tandem with Mumford & Sons fever, must have helped. OM&M generated heat at SXSW and guested on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. “I guess there have been a couple of folky bands that have paved the way for us in America. I think it was maybe the right music at the right time for the American market. We try to be genuine and happy when we write the music and they just picked up on it.” 

Australians have long had a romantic view of liberal Iceland – until its economic woes were revealed in 2008, anyway – but, excepting some '60s “legends”, musicians struggle to make a living. Breaking out was essential for OM&M, accidental or not. That said, Iceland's music scene, though small, is diverse. Performers don't expect to attract radio airplay – at least not on mainstream stations, which favour US and British acts – and so they don't try. There is freedom in that.

Originally Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, from Gardur, had a solo project, Songbird, but decided to assemble a band for gigs. The original incarnation of OM&M participated in 2010's Músíktilraunir, a long-standing battle of the bands, and won. OM&M released their primarily self-produced album independently in Iceland to much success the following year. When blogs, and US radio, championed Little Talks, the band was scooped up by Universal. OM&M issued an EP, Into The Woods, in advance of My Head... They have had personnel shuffles: Gudjónsson has reportedly left quietly. 

OM&M are invariably described as indie-folk. Rolling Stone and others have compared them to Arcade Fire. But OM&M toy with the formula. They often tour with a trumpeter. “We're not just a folky act,” Pórhallsson affirms. Sure, he and Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir harmonise, the group use traditional instruments like acoustic guitars, the accordion and the glockenspiel, and “some of the melodies are a bit maybe folky,” but “then there are all sorts of influences,” he insists. “I think the band itself is a very big rock band in many ways.” Rósenkranz Hilmarsson chips in, “I was playing drums for a pretty heavy rock band before I joined this band.” OM&M have even agreed to dance remixes. They're justifiably pleased with Passion Pit's icy electro rendering of Little Talks.

The title of My Head... is lifted from the second line in the opener, Dirty Paws. Says Pórhallsson, “For us it kind of sums up the album, lyrically and musically.” Rósenkranz Hilmarsson adds, “We wanted to create this world that you enter when you listen to our whole album. Do you feel like an animal when you listen to it?” Why, yes. My Head... has an otherworldly charm and dark eccentricity, evoking Nordic myths and European fairytales. The band have their favourite songs to play – and don't necessarily cite the Australian multi-platinum Little Talks. “It depends just on what day of the week it is,” Pórhallsson ponders, “but it's always really fun to perform Slow And Steady – at least for me – and Six Weeks.” They all dig the “rock anthem” Six Weeks. “It's like the most energetic song that we perform,” Pórhallsson notes. He's attached, too, to the gentle Your Bones. 

If Pórhallsson is the most talkative member, it's possibly because he seems most confident with English. However, OM&M are a democratic – and communal – entity, down to their songwriting process. “The ideas for the songs usually come separately,” says Pórhallsson, “because, when you get an idea, it's usually when you're not thinking about it, something like that – so it comes to you and you work on it a bit. But we don't like working on it too much on our own because what happens when you all come together is what makes a song. So we bring the ideas to work – and to the rehearsal – and there we jam on it and form it into a song.” Still, they acknowledge the challenges of belonging to a large outfit. It occasionally arises that all six are developing six different songs in a session. The five-piece Hot Chip ultimately defer to two executives, Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard, synth guy Felix Martin joking that it's “a benevolent dictatorship.” OM&M is more fluid. They have, Pórhallsson says, “a good rule... If someone feels very strongly about something, and you feel the other way or you don't feel as strongly about it, we go with the gut of the one who feels the strongest. Usually we just agree on things and we know when it's right and when it's wrong.”

OM&M's music would suit a blockbuster soundtrack – perhaps a future instalment of The Hunger Games saga. Pórhallsson is keen to pursue movie projects. “That's a distant dream of mine – and I think all of us, we wanna have our music in films, because they kinda last forever. We've had some songs in [TV] shows and stuff, and our next step we wanna take would be films.” OM&M are considering another album, Pórhallsson disclosing that they have “ideas”. “We're in the beginning stages because we've been touring a lot and we're kinda finding our balance between touring and writing music.” Their desire, Leifsson says, is to “take a good step forward, not just write an album that will sound exactly the same.” They hope to cut music that is true to their 'sound' yet different. Quips Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, “It won't be electronic or anything.” A band's second album, Leifsson rues, is a “fragile” thing.

Of Monsters And Men will play the following dates:

Thursday 31 January - The Northern, Byron Bay NSW
Friday 1 February - Laneway Festival, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 2 February - Laneway Festival, Sydney NSW
Sunday 3 February - Laneway Festival, Footscray VIC
Friday 8 February - Laneway Festival, Adelaide SA
Saturday 9 February - Laneway Festival, Perth WA