Of Monsters and Men get their lip-synch on in new 'Winter Sound' video • News • DIY Magazine

Since releasing their latest album ‘Beneath The Skin’ last summer, Of Monsters and Men have been busy bees. Currently on the road with Florence and The Machine, the Icelandic band are also gearing up for a summer of festies, with Latitude and Glastonbury sets growing ever nearer. Impressively, they also found time to head off to the fantasy land of Westeros and appear as extras in the sixth season of Game of Thrones. Their last cameo will air on next week’s episode, the jammy devils. We’d be lying if we said we weren’t jealous.

That’s not all. Of Monsters and Men have also been putting together videos for every single song from their most recent record, and the latest to get the treatment is bonus track ‘Winter Sound’. Originally an off-cut from their ‘My Head Is an Animal’ debut, the song soars with new life, completely reinvented five years on. And whatsmore, it comes with a lip-synch-tastic video, starring actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson. Especially beady-eyed readers might recognise him from True Detective, and the Icelandic mystery drama Trapped.

We’ve got the first spin of ‘Winter Sound’s beard-tastic lyric video. Have a watch below, and keep scrolling to read our chat with Of Monsters and Men’s Raggi Þórhallsson.

Who’re we speaking to and how’re you doing?

You´re speaking with Raggi and I’m doing great! We’re on tour with Florence and The Machine at the moment and having a lot of fun.

First off, what’s the story behind ‘Winter Sound’? What went into making the track?

We actually wrote ‘Winter Sound’ for our last album. We ended up not using it because we felt it didn’t fit in with the feeling of that album, but as we were writing our newest album [‘Beneath the Skin’] we started to play around with it again, and something clicked. We ended up writing totally new lyrics for it, and changing up the arrangement and instrumentation.

What was the thought process behind its accompanying video? What was it like to get Icelandic actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson involved?

For this album we wanted to make videos for all the songs. Our vision was to get interesting personalities to interpret the lyrics and the mood of our songs in their own way, and we wanted them to be as honest as possible. Just them, a camera and nothing else. We´re big fans of Ólafur Darri and had been in touch with him in the past about doing something together, so when we started doing this lyric video series we immediately thought of him. ‘Winter Sound’ felt like the perfect song for him and we’re very happy with his interpretation of the song.

You’ve also been popping up in Game of Thrones recently — how did that all come about? Are you fans of the show?

Big fans of the show. We’d been in contact with them a long time ago, when they were shooting in Iceland, about doing something together. Things didn’t work out at that time, but as soon as our schedules lined up things started to happen.

What was it like as an experience? How did filming go?

It was a lovely experience. We had a blast. It’s amazing to see how much effort goes into every little detail. Even though we are just extras in the background it was crazy how detailed our outfits were. After the three days we spent there, I have a new appreciation for actors and what they do. The hours are long and the effort has to always be there.

Did it feel strange to be appearing? Or did it, obviously, come quite naturally to you?

Very strange. Some of us watched the show together, and as soon as we saw ourselves on the screen we just started laughing hysterically. It was mostly just nervous laughter, I think. It’s crazy how much more comfortable I feel on stage in front of 20 thousand people than on the tv screen.

Do you have any theories or gossip that you can divulge? What do you reckon will happen at the end of the series?

No gossip. We tried our best to get all the inside information but it didn’t work. I’ve no big theories but I´m really rooting for Arya. I also think Varys will come in strong in the end.

Of Monsters and Men’s latest album ‘Beneath the Skin’ is out now.

Of Monsters and Men play Latitude (14th - 17th July) where DIY is an official media partner. Tickets are on sale now. Visit diymag.com/presents for more information.

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