Of Monsters and Men's 2012 full-length debut,
My Head Is an Animal, features more of the Icelandic band's acoustic-driven alt-rock featured on their 2011 EP Into the Woods. Showcasing the dual singer/guitarist/songwriters
Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar “Raggi” Pórhallsson, the album also displays the six-piece ensemble's grand and anthemic style with a bent toward passionate folk-rock uplift and more layered, introspective moments. In that sense, the band brings to mind the work of such similarly inclined contemporaries as
Arcade Fire,
Angus & Julia Stone, and
Mumford & Sons. While such cuts as the peppy, horn-driven "Little Talks," "Six Weeks," "Love Love Love," and "From Finner" are carryovers from Into the Woods, elsewhere we get the cinematic build of "King and Lionheart," the catchy,
Florence + the Machine-sounding singalong "Mountain Sound," and the reverb-laden "Lakehouse." There's even the very '60s Celtic folk-meets-
Ennio Morricone number "Your Bones." Thoughtfully crafted and full of melancholic lyricism and quietly desperate romanticism,
My Head Is an Animal should appeal to any fan -- whether man or monster -- of sweet and wide-eyed folk-rock. ~ Matt Collar