Of Monsters and Men release new album

You may have heard their hit "Little Talks" or seen them at this year's South by Southwest.  And though I can't pronounce any of the band members' names, I am extremely excited about the full album that was just released by Iceland natives, Of Monsters and Men.

If you are a regular to this blog or know me at all, you might know that I am a sucker for duets with both a male and female voice.  Well, in Of Monsters and Men there are two lead singers,  Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, a girl, and Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson, a guy.  However, that's not the only reason why I'm in love with this band.

Of Monsters and Men have a really unique folk sound.  Their voices are different and distinct, completely pleasant to listen to.  

Their instrument choices are also unique.  In many tracks of the album you can hear organs, horns and a wide variation of percussion.  

Of Monsters and Men, as before mentioned, reign from a small (by American standards) town in Iceland called Garðabær.  They were the 2010 winners of a band competition called Músíktilraunir and instantly hit success in their homeland.  

Until now, all of us American fans had to listen to from Of Monsters and Men was the Into The Woods EP. Fortunately, Universal now has signed the band and released this full length album My Head Is an Animal. 

They also just began their first North American tour.  

Every song on the My Head Is an Animal is fun and full of wonderful lyrics.  It includes the four songs from the EP as well as a whopping eight new ones.

Did I mention that no one in this country had even heard of them until the end of 2011?  Obviously, with this quick growing popularity, Of Monsters and Men are in for some major success here in the U.S.