Some records whisper to you; others shout in your ear. This one does both.
With All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade, Of Monsters and Men return to the studio after six years without losing the warmth that made them great. It is folk-pop built on wide-open atmospheres, aimed straight at the chest, and it aches beautifully if you are the kind of person who cares about what is happening around them.
They open strongly with "Television Love". The Icelandic band puts its finger on the sore spot of technological immediacy, but does so with melodies that linger rather than sermons, inviting us to consider how easily relationships can become superficial in a world ruled by technology and instant gratification.
After six years away from the studio, they return as international festival headliners. They opened their 2026 festival season at SanSan Festival in Benicàssim, and it shows. They sound road-tested.
"Dream Team" is the album's adrenaline rush. The piano drives an infectious, almost orchestral rhythm that pushes you to dance. There are echoes of Keane in that restrained sense of grandeur, but with the Icelanders' unmistakable Nordic character.
On "The Actor", the pulse slows and Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir takes centre stage. The singer and guitarist, together with Ragnar "Raggi" Þórhallsson, forms the band's songwriting backbone. Their vocal pairing remains its greatest strength: fragile and powerful at once.
There are five of them in all. Lead guitarist Brynjar Leifsson, drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson and bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson complete the line-up. You can hear that they are a band. They sound tight.
The album's heart beats in "The Towering Skyscraper At The End Of The Road" and "Ordinary Creature". Nanna and Raggi pull us deep into their soundscapes, treating love and pain like weather, like a season of the year. They shake you, knock you out and then wrap you in a blanket.
Yes, perhaps 13 tracks are too many. At a certain point the album becomes linear and cries out for a break, a risk that never comes.
Even so, it is impossible to let go. All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade has that feel-good effect. It does not revolutionise you; it keeps you company. Sometimes that is exactly what you need: music that reminds you it is possible to be broken and at peace at the same time.
78/100