Of Monsters and Men Drop Lush New Single, Announce New Album
It’s been nearly four years since Of Monsters and Men unleashed their debut album, My Head Is An Animal, and the long-awaited follow-up is finally on the horizon. The Icelandic folk-pop quintet announced that their second LP, called Beneath The Skin, will arrive in June, with new single “Crystals” offering a hint at what’s to come.
“Crystals” features the band’s trademark expansive sound, with martial drums punctuating the rousing chorus: “Cover your crystal eyes and feel the tones that tremble down your spine.” The stark black and white lyric video that accompanies “Crystals” features a bearded man bopping along and lip-synching to the lush track.
Beneath The Skin, the band’s second LP, is set for release on June 9th through Republic Records. Of Monsters and Men recorded the album over the past year in Iceland and Los Angeles with Rich Costey (Death Cab for Cutie, Interpol) co-producing. The band will be building up to the release with a world tour beginning May 4th at Toronto’s Massey Hall and continuing through the summer. The full tour schedule is available on the band’s website.
Singer and guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir spoke to Rolling Stone in 2012 as the band was beginning to write the new album. “I want to expand,” Hilmarsdóttir said. “There’s no way we can create an album like we did. It’s just the love child of that period, kind of, because we were [just] forming.”
Beneath The Skin Track List
1. “Crystals”
2. “Human”
3. “Hunger”
4. “Wolves Without Teeth”
5. “Empire”
6. “Slow Life”
7. “Organs”
8. “Black Water”
9. “Thousand Eyes”
10. “I Of The Storm”
11. “We Sink”
12. “Backyard” *
13. “Winter Sound” *
14. “Black Water” (Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear Remix) *
15. “I Of The Storm” (Alex Somers Remix) *
* Deluxe Edition bonus tracks