Of Monsters and Men’s stunning fourth album, ‘All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade,’ marks their most personal and emotional work to date—a heartfelt reunion that sees the Icelandic indie folk band reconnecting with their roots, relationships, and the tender, intricate truths that have sustained them for fifteen years. In an interview with Atwood Magazine, co-founders Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson shared insights into the spiritual and creative rejuvenation behind the album, the quiet reset that sparked this deeply human collection of songs, and the delicate, familial philosophy at the essence of the Mouse Parade.
“Some lost, we stay, we wait… all is love and pain, mouse parade.” This line contains an entire universe—a space where heartbreak and hope coexist, where generations stack like floorboards, and where community serves as both refuge and reflection. Of Monsters and Men have consistently crafted music that bridges wonder and sorrow, but ‘All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade’ presents a new dimension. It’s their most human, community-oriented, and perspective-altering album—a narrative about growing up, returning home, and recognizing how love and pain inform and resonate with one another across time.
Released on October 17, 2025, via Virgin Music Group, ‘All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade’ is an introspective yet expansive victory, grounded in the quiet rituals and shared histories that shaped its creation. Written over several years and stitched together like a series of letters exchanged among different versions of themselves, the songs on Of Monsters and Men’s fourth studio album—following 2019’s ‘FEVER DREAM’—capture the subtle transformations occurring within the crevices of life.
Years saw births, routines reestablished, and countless hours spent in their Reykjavík studio brewing mediocre coffee and chatting about everyday matters. There were parents delivering forgotten keys, friends visiting for jam sessions, and the reassuring embrace of a small island that allows one to feel lost, bored, and creatively inspired anew. After almost a decade on the road, the band took a step back from the grind that began with “Little Talks,” and during this hiatus, they rediscovered the intimacy, spontaneity, and chemistry that characterized their early years.
“With this record, we’re sort of coming home again... revisiting our roots and this sense of belonging,” Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir tells Atwood Magazine.
That sentiment is collective and communal. Fifteen years in, Of Monsters and Men continue to function as a close-knit unit—five musicians who grew up together, both on the stage and off, each contributing a piece of the band’s shared history. The lineup consists of singers and guitarists Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson, lead guitarist Brynjar Leifsson, drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, and bassist Kristján Páll Kristjánsson. The Icelandic indie folk group has always been more than the sum of its parts—a tight-knit community in its own right, an authentic, makeshift “mouse parade” of lifelong friends whose stories and legacies intertwine.
The sensation of homecoming that Nanna refers to resonates throughout the album—in tracks like the longing in “Ordinary Creature,” the existential reflections of “The End,” the bittersweet tone of “Tuna in a Can,” the brooding energy of “The Block,” and the mythology-infused storytelling in “Mouse Parade.” These songs weave through personal revelations and shared history, but they always orbit a larger understanding—that our lives are connected to those before us, the communities that support us, and the families we establish along the way. It’s an album written from dual perspectives: the intimate, immediate self and the broader narrator who observes the entire constellation of lives and histories beneath the surface.
Raggi describes the band’s current work as a reset. “We stripped away the structure surrounding us, allowing something genuinely meaningful to emerge,” he explains. “It was essential to feel that inspiring sensation together again.”
Nanna mirrors this sentiment, noting that their collaboration stemmed from a genuine desire to create music together rather than from obligation. “We made the album that everyone was eager to create,” she states, “instead of feeling compelled to make one.”
This sense of freedom and intention permeates ‘All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade’—from its bold opening notes to its soft concluding sounds. The album opener, “Television Love,” functions as both a mission statement and a reintroduction, with its hazy, emotional crescendo embodying the record’s tension between distance and devotion. “Dream Team” ignites like a spark igniting a fire—a powerful, driving anthem that transforms self-doubt into momentum, with its poignant refrain (“I don’t want to see the sundown, I was wondering for a second not to stare, but you need me
Of Monsters and Men’s stunning fourth album ‘All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade’ is their most personal and sincere record to date – a collective reunion that sees the Icelandic indie folk group reconnecting with each other, their origins, and the delicate, intertwined realities that have supported them over fifteen years. In an interview with Atwood Magazine, the band's co-founders Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson share insights about the spiritual and creative renewal that inspired the music, the gentle reset that birthed this profoundly human collection of songs, and the fragile, familial philosophy that lies at the center of the Mouse Parade.
