Of Monsters and Men

Great indie rock out of Iceland.  They just put out a new album (2015's Beneath the Skin), and the lead single off of it, called "Crystals," has been getting heavy radio play recently.  It is good, but has a line in the chorus that makes me think of the drink Crystal Light every single time.

OMOM are HUGE fans of peach lemonade Crystal Light.  "Wooooahhoo, covet your Crystal Liiiiight!"  Be careful, or Ragnar will steal your Snapple too.  This song, like the rest of the new album, is good, broad, powerful, arena-ready indie made to pump up a crowd.  Almost every single song includes at least one "woooahhhhoo" kind of line that the crowd will be able to join in with the band on.  Speaking of which, I am liking "Black Water" and "Wolves Without Teeth" very much. And "Organs" is a slow burning, wistful orchestral about pulling yourself apart for lost love that leaves the arena-ready rocker mold in a good way.

"Crystals" clocks in at 10.4 million listens right now, which is absolutely dwarfed by their big hit from 2012's My Head is an Animal, an excellent album in its own right. Their big hit, which you've heard unless you avoid the radio, is called "Little Talks," and has more than 168.7 million listens on Spotify.

Great song.  Totally overplayed on most formats of radio.  Thought it was the Lumineers for a while. I also thought this band was the same thing as The Head and the Heart for a while. I ain't too smart, but there was a wave of this kind of sound after Mumford that confused me until I straightened them all out.

The band does a great job of combining their singers so that neither the female lead or male lead seems to be taking control of the ship, but I think the lady (with an awesome Icelandic name, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, no lie) pulls the oar most.  Her voice is really cool - can go super strong and powerful, or can be an icy whisper.
That first album also boasts several other tunes with 20+ million plays, including one of my favorites, called "Dirty Paws," at 56 million.

Starts off with that spare beat and picking, and later erupts into a powerful singalong that lyrically reminds me of Rush's "Trees."  When the birds join up with the beast for the big battle, you know who is going to win.  And its not the maples who want more sunlight.

Good band, will plan on seeing them do it all live.