Of Monsters & Men: My Head is an Animal

I might not have to spill too many words on Of Monsters & Men's debut. It does something very specific, very well, for 12 tracks, and anyone with an interest in what constitutes good music these days has probably already heard it. If not, it should be an easy sell. Enough people came to me asking about it after only one or two listens to the lead single, "Little Talks." That single speaks to OMAM's appeal very quickly. It rolls in on a brassy little bit of fanfare, which establishes their flare for dramatic, airborne music, and then for the verses narrows its focus to the vocal interplay of Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, two names I obviously copied and pasted from Wikipedia. And yes, like many indie bands, they have the male vocalist who seems to feel too little and the female vocalist who seems to feel more than normal. The subtle hints of accents in the delivery add that sort of foreign feeling. The band is from the mystical island of Iceland, where geographic isolation and Scandinavian heritage are a potent mixture for creative types. This music has an almost mythic, mystic, giant-slaying quality to it, even though it is most often about the usual stuff: lover's spats, loneliness, magical kings. Dig "From Finner" with its dramatic swoops, or the folksy, lonely, "Your Bones."

"Little Talks" is a terrific song, and if it is indeed your jam I can comfortably recommend the rest of the album. It isn't that every song sounds the same; they move quite comfortably within their style, from hard-hitting anthems like "Six Weeks," to soft candlelight tunes like "Slow and Steady." But it all comes from the same garden, grown organically and harvested right at the time. Pardon the agricultural metaphor. Something about this music just feels so Earthy and holistic. And yet it's not distant at all from pop sensibility: "Mountain Sound" proves that for sure.

It's tough, to work consistently within a style without repeating yourself too much. They fit well with the post-Mumford & Sons fervor for good-natured, dependable, welcoming music with a rustic, rugged bent to it: not overly polished, but very clean and positive. Lots of back up vocals, to reinforce this feeling of community you get just from having it on in the background.

Beyond being a band with a great sound, the individual moments have a lot of pleasures. Probably my favourite is "Love Love Love," a solo spot for Nanna, as she croons softly, guiltily, that "You love, love, love / When you know I can't love." Almost every note in this song sounds pained. It's an exercise in restraint that proves the band has a lot to offer and isn't just hitting at the right moment.

It's tempting to chalk it up to "the times," but if this is the trend - that Mumford thing I alluded to earlier - then I'm happy to have it. This is good, honest, human-feeling music, but has a spark to it beyond mere pop. This is good work. It hits the sweet spot.

Buy this album now:iTunes Canada // iTunes USA // Amazon.ca // Amazon.com