Music Mondays | Mammút
Mammút
Image | Alexander Kellner
The rock band Mammút hails from Iceland. The three original members, vocalist Kata Mogensen, guitarist Alexandra Baldursdóttir, and bassist Ása Dýradóttir met and started playing music together in 2003. The following year, they added a second guitarist, Arnar Pétursson and started releasing music after winning the annual Músiktilraunir “Battle of the Bands” competition. Shortly afterwards, they started recording and releasing recordings of their music. In 2014, their third album, Komdu til mín svarta systir (“Come to Me, My Dark Sister”), had several nominations and won three awards at the Iceland Music Awards. This album’s variety of rhythms and the catchy hooks make this album an enjoyable listen all the way through.
Now, the band has already made their mark in Iceland and is getting recognition around the world. Mammút has kept releasing albums and started writing in English as well for their two most recent releases, the first of which, Kinder Versions, earned the band three awards at the Iceland Music Awards in 2017.
“Salt” won best Pop and Rock song at the Music Awards in 2013 and continues to be one of the band’s most popular songs; it demonstrates the Kata Mogensen’s vocal talents (she does some fun, weird sound effects in this performance). “Ströndin,” like “Salt,” is off Mammút’s third album and is a little shoegaze-y. These songs and the whole album sound the way I imagine Iceland would feel: expansive, cold, and a little dangerous… in an exciting way. “Walls” and “Prince” are both sung in English and are from Kinder Versions and Ride the Fire respectively. I’ve linked the music video to “Prince,” the most “PG” of their videos, which are what I can only describe as “corporeal.” I personally think their music videos are cool, and I’d recommend you to take a look at them if you like artsy, avant-garde visuals.
“Salt”
”Ströndin” (“Shore”)
“Walls”
”Prince” Content warning: strobe effects
