Of Monsters and Men hasn’t graced a Nashville stage in more than a decade.
Music City’s a far way from their home base of Reykjavík, Iceland, after all.
But on Monday, Nov. 10, the indie-folk group is headed to back to Nashville on their Mouse Parade tour to hit the stage at The Pinnacle.
The “Little Talks” band released their first full-length record in more than six years, “All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade,” in October. The gentle, 13-track collection balances nostalgia and melancholy in tales about seeking connection in a lonely world.
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Of Monsters and Men is headed to Nashville on their 2025 tour.
Ahead of the group’s North American tour, which kicked off on Oct. 28 in Toronto, vocalist and guitarist Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson sat down for an interview with The Tennessean via Zoom.
What is the ‘Mouse Parade’? Of Monsters and Men shares
Of Monsters and Men (OMAM) rose to fame after their 2011 debut, “My Head Is an Animal.”
After breaking out with “Little Talks,” they’ve played “Saturday Night Live,” made a cameo on HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and created tunes for “The Hunger Games” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” The group dropped their last record, “Fever Dream,” in 2019.
After releasing an EP, a documentary, and prioritizing solo projects, the band is back on the road in promotion of their new album.
Co-singers and lyricists Nanna Hilmarsdóttir and Þórhallsson quietly crafted the record in Reykjavík over the past two years, gathering in the studio around 10 each morning and getting to work over a bad pot of coffee.
“Mouse Parade” was self-produced by the band, along with help from Josh Kaufman (The National, Bob Weird, Bonny Light Horseman) and Bjarni Þór Jensson on a couple tracks.
Inspired by their own lives, families, communities and the generations that came before them, Hilmarsdóttir and Þórhallsson found that the world is full of everyone’s own “mouse parade,” ones comprised of stories big and small.
For Þórhallsson, “some of it is, of course, a little bit depressing,” he said.
“But it’s not a depressing album. It’s actually (my) journey from feeling kind of bad to feeling kind of great.”
The songs aren’t individual stories, per se, but moments.
“It’s a little time capsule,” he said, adding that it would be interesting to go back and listen to it one day and hear the little slices of life.
Of Monsters and Men are headed to Nashville’s The Pinnacle on Nov. 10, 2025.
“The Block” sparked from when Þórhallsson was living alone in a new apartment during the pandemic lockdown.
“I guess I like the pain more than I like my health / I guess I sometimes sing to try and help myself,” he sings, underscored by plucky piano and western-sounding guitar.
“Tuna in a Can” captures insecurity and confinement with a vivid melody, but poignant lyrics.
“You’re insecure / Lost in your mother’s, lost in your daddy’s shoes,” Hilmarsdóttir and Þórhallsson sing. “This dim lit living room / Feels like the pocket of your brother’s suit.”
Other standouts include album-starter “Television Love” and “Fruit Bat.”
The record is bolstered by its descriptive writing, a folk music staple. For Þórhallsson, a Nashville legend inspired much of the album’s storytelling: John Prine.
“He’s been a big influence on my lyrics,” he said. “For the last two years, I’m quite simple when it comes to music. I just put him on and he makes me feel good.”
Þórhallsson connected with “Tree of Forgiveness,” Prine’s 18th and final album from April 2018. Prine died in 2020 in Nashville due to complications from COVID-19.
More: John Prine, the Mark Twain of modern songwriting, dies at age 73
“There’s nothing like listening to an old voice,” Þórhallsson said. “There’s so much more behind it than us young voices.”
Prine had a knack for saying something important while staying light and adding an element of humor. “I think that’s something that I want to get better doing,” Þórhallsson said.
“You write sometimes from a very black and white place when you’re younger. When you hear lyrics like (Prine’s) that are exploring the gray area, you’re kind of OK with the pain and OK with the happiness. It’s not so black and white. It’s enjoying the little things.”
Of Monsters and Men released “All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade” in October.
What to expect at Of Monsters and Men’s Nashville show
For the band’s North American tour, they’re being “mindful of pacing us this time around,” Þórhallsson said.
They want to have a healthy balance.
As they created the record, they traded the beers from past album cycles for cups of java.
That practical mentality will likely stay the same on the road; the band is working to be in a happy, stable place during the chaos of a tour.
At Of Monsters and Men’s Nashville show, they’re planning to play a bunch of the new album, as well as old crowd-pleasers.
“We’re coming over just to have fun with the people; haven’t seen our fans for a while,” Þórhallsson added. Though this album is more minimal, the show will still be “full blast.”
To learn more about the band, head to ofmonstersandmen.com.
Audrey Gibbs is a music journalist at The Tennessean. You can reach her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville legend John Prine helped inspire Of Monsters and Men
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