Kex in Reykjavik has the best view of any hostel in the world. Sitting in the premises’ upstairs café, you look out across the Faxafloi Bay at the majestic Esja mountain, which today is shrouded in mist, adding to its allure.
It’s a suitably spectacular backdrop for my encounter with Icelandic indie-rockers Of Monsters And Men, whose upcoming second album, Beneath The Skin, is a stirring collection of widescreen, emotionally charged anthems. In a meeting room off a corridor in the Kex café, I find OMAM’s singer, Bjork lookalike Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir, and guitarist, self-described Jim Jarmusch lookalike Brynjar Leifsson, enjoying some lunch.
Both softly spoken, the duo also share a wry sense of humour that is common in Iceland, and has a notable similarity to Irish people’s often sardonic outlook. This is actually my second encounter with Brynjar, our first meeting playing out like a scene from Spinal Tap. The previous evening, myself and a journalistic colleague were chatting to a couple of guys outside OMAM’s studio downtown, where we were about to listen to a playback of the new album.
We were getting along famously, when I enquired if our new friends were themselves in a band. To which the guys replied that yes, they were in fact Brynjar and Ragnar from Of Monsters And Men. Oh dear! Thankfully, we were quickly forgiven.
Second time around, there’s no such awkwardness and it’s straight down to business. OMAM’s debut album, My Head Is An Animal, was an unexpected international smash hit. Indeed, nowhere were the group more popular than Ireland, where both the album and single ‘Little Talks’ topped the charts.
Having achieved such phenomenal success with their first album, were the band keen to create more hits on Beneath The Skin?
“It doesn’t hurt,” acknowledges Nanna, “but we weren’t aiming for that. You never know, that’s the funny part. You think, this could work as a single and then you’re totally wrong, cos somebody else is hearing something different. With ‘Little Talks’, we initially recorded that with another song – and we thought the other track was going to be the A-side. So we were going around to radio stations in Iceland, asking, can you play our single? But everyone listened to it and said, we actually want to play ‘Little Talks’ instead.
“It was crazy as well cos we hadn’t properly finished it. Radio stations were ringing the head of our label going, they need to finish ‘Little Talks’. And our label were saying, ‘This is the first time this has ever happened – that radio stations are asking an artist to complete a song!’”
“Singles are always good,” considers Brynjar. “Having said that, we never go into the rehearsal space saying, this is going to be a single or anything like that. Our first single on this album is ‘Crystals’, which in the beginning was a slow song that definitely wasn’t single material. We just sped it up and that led us to think, yeah, this is something we could put out as a taster.”
As usually happens when a band becomes enormously successful, Of Monsters And Men found themselves being namechecked by some unlikely figures. For example, the band became something of a favourite in the Real Madrid dressing room, with goalkeeper Ikor Casillas saying he listened to ‘Little Talks’ to help him focus before World Cup matches, and Gareth Bale describing the band as “the best thing to come out of Iceland since [Swansea FC striker] Gylfi Sigurosson.”
The group also did the rounds on the US TV circuit, appearing on Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live. The latter show, in particular, has a history of iconic musical performances.
“It was a lot of fun, but it was also pretty stressful,” says Brynjar. “When you’re doing Jay Leno and so on, they’re pre-recorded, so if you blow it, you have a second chance. We haven’t had to do a second take on any of those shows yet, but it’s always a good thought to have – if we fail, we have that safety net. But on Saturday Night Live, it’s like, you’ve got one chance, don’t fuck it up! Zach Galifianakis was presenting when we were on. It was surprising to be in a Hollywood filth kind of place (laughs). Bradley Cooper from American Sniper was there, and Jon Hamm from Mad Men.
“They both appeared in one sketch and then they were hanging around for a bit. I watch Mad Men religiously, so when I saw Jon Hamm when I was playing, I was like, ‘Okay, this is the moment where I fuck up!’ (laughs)”
The band also decamped Stateside for part of Beneath The Skin, with some of the recording taking place in LA. How did they find the experience?
“Well, it is very different to Reykjavik,” reflects Nanna. “It was weird, but I think weird is good! We were staying at Oakwood Apartments, which is where all the aspiring child actors stay. There’s actually a reality TV show about the place. The first day we arrived there, we saw a little boy, maybe nine-years-old, with slicked back hair and a script under his arm. It was very much, ‘Okay, we’re in Hollywood now.’ But it was a good – you had the sun and you were in a different environment. We enjoyed it.”
It was perhaps fitting that Of Monsters And Men should make part of the album in LA, given the prominence their music now enjoys in TV and movies, with the band appearing on the soundtracks for The Walking Dead and The Hunger Games, amongst others.
“With The Hunger Games, I noticed that it did a cross over to a different audience,” notes Nanna. “And getting new people on board like that is fun.”
Did Brynjar manage to watch any of The Walking Dead in between episodes of his beloved Mad Men?
“I did watch one season of it,” he affirms. “I’ve been really bad with television lately. It’s good when you’re on tour – but we haven’t been on tour for three years! When we head out this time, I’m gonna finish Mad Men and then I’ll probably take a look at Better Call Saul. It was interesting as well to hear about Twin Peaks coming back. But now apparently they might make it without David Lynch – I mean, what are they trying to do?!”
On a visit to Paris a few years ago, I was supposed to take in Lynch’s nightclub in the city, Silencio – a recreation of the bar from Mulholland Drive – although the visit was cancelled at the last minute. Presumably, though, if you’re in a famous band, you can rock up anytime you like.
“I don’t know,” sighs Brynjar. “There are still clubs in Reykjavik I can’t get into!”