“Little Talks” by Of Monsters And Men

"Little Talks" was the first single Of Monsters and Men ever put out, the Icelandic band's calling card in 2011 and the lead-off release from their debut album, My Head Is an Animal. It also turned up on their Into the Woods EP.

The song belongs to the band's two lead singers, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson, who wrote the words, and its whole charm lies in those two voices leaning into each other. Aron Arnarsson produced and engineered it with the band and Craig Silvey mixed it, and they keep everything big and communal: a stomping, handmade indie-pop rush that sounds like the whole village wandered in to sing the chorus.

That warmth has worn well. Alternative countdowns were still making room for it well over a decade after it arrived.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.