Of Monsters & Men - From Finner

This love is for real folks. Here is a band that I instantly fell for, really really hard. It's a little premature considering there are only 4 songs on myspace and only 2 songs for sale, but it was love at first accordion note. It's not a surprise really that I love a band that is similar to Hey Marseilles in sound due to the usuage of a similar orchestral line up, plus Of Monsters & Men is Icelandic and we all know it's hard to dislike a band from there. At this point it's near impossible to remain objective and describe the wonders of this band without getting all muddled and mired in my personal attachment to their songs. So I will tell you the personal side because it's more fun to write about anyway. Listen while you read after the jump.

Of Monsters and Men - From Finner

One rainy Friday night I stumbled across this band as I sipped my whiskey curled up on a couch with my headphones on (also known as the Friday fetal position) and man, oh man, was I instantly in love. I played the songs over and over grasping every detail I could. I've greedily kept this band to myself for months and I'm only now sharing it with you because it's been difficult to describe how much their song "From Finner" means to me.

In 2006, I studied abroad and since then, there hasn't been a year I haven't traveled out of the country. That feeling I first had, living in Prague, was one of invincibility. Being far away from home, friends, and family, in an unfamiliar country with an even more unfamiliar language, yet still managing to be self-sufficient and adapting to life in a new culture gave me an unbelievable awareness of who I was in a world that at the time seemed so big. I've chased that feeling around the globe yet there is still nothing like the first time and that inexplicable euphoric happiness that comes with the best travel adventures. So when I heard the lyrics "We are far from home, all alone, but we're so happy", I sat stunned for a long time letting the song play over and over. It's such a simple line, but it encompassed everything I had felt before and everything that I was currently missing. I don't know if a song has ever hit me like that, and I started singing along eventually jumping up and down, belting out that one line. And that was just the first night I heard the song. Since then I've kept it to myself, holding on tight, because it's just like having my best memories in the form of a song. Now I think I'm ready to share it with you, but I couldn't do it without telling you why this song means so much to me. I hope you are able to derive your own enjoyment and stories from it.