Biography
Nanna, born Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, serves as the lead singer, songwriter, and creative force behind the platinum-selling chamber pop and indie rock ensemble Of Monsters and Men. Her first solo effort, the reflective How to Start a Garden, came out in 2023.
She grew up in the coastal town of Garður in southwestern Iceland, where music classes shaped her early development. During adolescence she took the stage alone at Reykjavik open-mike nights, performing under the name Songbird. To broaden her arrangements she invited additional players into those shows, five of whom—Brynjar Leifsson, Ragnar Þórhallsson, Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, Árni Guðjónsson, and Kristján Páll Kristjánsson—later formed the core of Of Monsters and Men alongside her. The band burst onto the global stage in the 2010s with a lush, communal blend of chamber pop and sing-along indie folk. Their 2011 debut, My Head Is an Animal, reached number one in several territories and earned multi-platinum status, while 2015’s Beneath the Skin entered the Billboard 200 at number three. On 2019’s Fever Dream the group moved toward a more electronic palette. In 2022 they released the five-track EP TÍU together with a documentary sharing the same title.
Early in 2023 Nanna issued the singles “Godzilla” and “Crybaby.” Both tracks originated during a period of isolation spent in a remote cabin outside Reykjavik and later appeared on her solo debut. Working with co-producers Aaron Dessner of the National and Josh Kaufman of War on Drugs, she shaped the intimate How to Start a Garden, which merged the sweeping folk-pop textures of her band with stripped-down, introspective songwriting. The album surfaced that April.
She grew up in the coastal town of Garður in southwestern Iceland, where music classes shaped her early development. During adolescence she took the stage alone at Reykjavik open-mike nights, performing under the name Songbird. To broaden her arrangements she invited additional players into those shows, five of whom—Brynjar Leifsson, Ragnar Þórhallsson, Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, Árni Guðjónsson, and Kristján Páll Kristjánsson—later formed the core of Of Monsters and Men alongside her. The band burst onto the global stage in the 2010s with a lush, communal blend of chamber pop and sing-along indie folk. Their 2011 debut, My Head Is an Animal, reached number one in several territories and earned multi-platinum status, while 2015’s Beneath the Skin entered the Billboard 200 at number three. On 2019’s Fever Dream the group moved toward a more electronic palette. In 2022 they released the five-track EP TÍU together with a documentary sharing the same title.
Early in 2023 Nanna issued the singles “Godzilla” and “Crybaby.” Both tracks originated during a period of isolation spent in a remote cabin outside Reykjavik and later appeared on her solo debut. Working with co-producers Aaron Dessner of the National and Josh Kaufman of War on Drugs, she shaped the intimate How to Start a Garden, which merged the sweeping folk-pop textures of her band with stripped-down, introspective songwriting. The album surfaced that April.
Albums
Singles
