Dirty Paws Crystals Little Talks Of Monsters And Men

Dirty Paws Album: My Head is an Animal (2011)
Crystals Album: Beneath The Skin (2015)
Little Talks Album: My Head is an Animal (2011)
by Of Monsters and Men

Of Monsters and Men is a six piece indie folk/indie pop band from Reykjavík, Iceland. The group originated in 2009 when co-singer/guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir decided to add co-singer/guitarist Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, guitarist Brynjar Leifsson and drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, to her solo project, Songbird. The four-piece entered the 2010 Músíktilraunir and ended up winning the Icelandic annual battle of the bands competition. Following their success at Músiktilraunir, the quartet added two more members, piano/accordion player Árni Guðjónsson, and bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson and signed with Record Records in February 2011. Their debut album My Head Is an Animal was released in Iceland in September 2011 with both it and lead single "Little Talks" hitting #1 in their native country. Of Monsters and Men signed with Universal Music Group in early 2012 and the LP was released in the United States on April 3, 2012. The album title comes from the second line in Dirty Paws.

Brimming with metaphors, the lead single from Of Monsters and Men's second album Beneath The Skin finds the group surrendering to their own vulnerability before ultimately embracing it in Crystals. "That song sums up the album, in a way," lead vocalist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir explained to Rolling Stone. "Lyrically, it's just about being open. Completely, uncomfortably open, like an open book."

Crystals was one of several Beneath The Skin tracks that began to take shape while Of Monsters and Men was on the road, something new for the band. "It went through a lot of stages," Hilmarsdottir said. "The original idea is nothing like what it ended up being. The bridge was a pre-chorus, and the chorus wasn't even in there. We were always just trying to figure that one out."

The song's music video was filmed in Iceland by directors Arni and Kinski. The clip finds the band performing the track amid an intricate backdrop.
Another cut by an Icelandic singer that references crystals is Bjork's Biophilia track "Crystalline." On that song the songstress compares the process of crystal formation with her own personal growth.

Little Talks was released as their debut single in Iceland in September 2011 and went to the top of the charts in their native country. The following April the tune became their first entry on the US singles chart, when it entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #92.

Speaking with Interview Magazine, Hilmarsdóttir explained Little Talks's meaning: "How we usually make our lyrics is, Raggi and I, sometimes we come up with stories or situations. That one is about a relationship. Sometimes we haven't wanted to give too much away. We like people to read their own things in the lyrics. I guess I could share it. It's about a couple and the husband passed away and it's from the conversation between the two of them. We don't know if she's going crazy or if someone's actually there. We've kind of been inspired by people that lived in my house. This old couple that lived there for 30 years. The woman passed away, so it was kind of different."