New folk, pop sounds

One of the great things about writing this column is that I get the chance to listen to new artists and their kind of music all the time. The results can at times be disappointing. Why did I bother? But I continue to bother and no matter how awful the results, every album still gets a listen. There are times though when the experience can be almost fantastic. That is, when you put a new CD by an unknown artist on the machine and the sound, strange, but exciting, comes out of the speakers. Suddenly, I know I am in the presence of stars.

I came across two such releases last week, when while preparing to listen to will.i.am, I decided instead to try out My Head Is An Animal by the group with an interesting name, Of Monsters And Men and I got hooked. So since OMAM had already put me in a daring mood for the unheard of, I decided to try another first album by a new artist, Jake Bugg by the young folk singer Jake Bugg from the UK. And what do you know he also turned out to be quite appealing and very talented? And so here goes:

Of Monsters And Men comes from Iceland. The only thing I know about Iceland is that it is a sparsely populated Nordic country where the edda tales originated. As far as pop music is concerned, its best known exports are Bjork of the hit It’s Oh So Quiet, the film Dancer in the Dark and the swan costume at one Oscar night some years ago, and the pop group The Sugarcubes of the hits Birthday and Motorcrash. OMAM makes for a worthy addition to the list.

Of Monsters And Men is made up of founder Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir on lead vocals and guitar; Ragnar Prhallsson on co-lead vocals, guitar, melodica and glockenspiel; Brynjar Leifsson on guitar, melodica and background vocals; Kristjan Pall Kristjansson on bass and background vocals; and Arnar Rosenkranz Hilmarsson on drums, percussion, melodica, glockenspiel, accordion and background vocals. Together, they create a sound that is unique, trendy and very infectious.

My Head Is An Animal is Of Monsters And Men’s first album. The superb songwriting, performance and production is a group effort and how propitious it is that OMAM came along when folk rhythms of all sorts have invaded the hit charts. I hear a lot of Celtic influences in the melodies and arrangements spiced with bits of country and rock in the music of OMAM. It is sweet, uplifting and fun. This is an album that is very much at home alongside Imagine Dragons, fun., The Lumineers, Gotye or Mumford & Sons. 

Little Talks, the first single, is already a platinum seller with over 42 million views on the Net. Up next is Mountain Sound. Then there are Dirty Paws, King And LionHeart, Slow And Steady, From Finner, Six Weeks, Love Love Love, Your Bones, Sloom, Yellow Light and the one I like best, Lakehouse.

We all know the UK to be an excellent spawning ground for pop idols and it looks like the Brits really hit a jackpot with this one. Bugg is a singer, songwriter from Nottingham, England who is only 19 years old and very attractive. No wonder everybody is going crazy about him what with the media giving him all out support and the public buying enough copies of the Jake Bugg CD to make it a No. 1 seller.

I am not surprised that happened. Jake Bugg his first album boasts of solid songwriting skills and easy, confident vocals. With his full tones and Western drawl, he reminds me of Rick Nelson and Jimmie Rodgers from the ’60s with hints of Johnny Cash and Don McLean of a later time. He has a happy sound but this does not stop him from taking on social issues afflicting the youth nowadays. These are then decked out with hillbilly arrangements that reinforce the old-time pop idol image.

But Bugg is more than that. Check out his first two singles, the energetic Lightning Bolt and Two Fingers. I am sure you, too, will think that maybe he will mature into a British Bob Dylan. And Broken is proof he does great with slow ballads, too. The other cuts are Taste It, Seen It All, Simple As This, Country Song, Trouble Town, Ballad Of Mr. Jones, Slide, Someone Told Me, Note To Self, Some Place and Fire.