Analysis of Mountain Sound in the Context of Journeys
Journey Portfolio
Mountain Sound
Of Monsters and Men
Song
September 2nd, 2012
“Mountain Sound” is a song performed by Icelandic indie pop band Of Monsters and Men which was released as a second single from their debut studio album “My Head is An Animal.” Written by Arnar Rósenkranz, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson, it tells the story of a character who commits a crime or action that opposes the values and cultural norm of his society. He then flees from the area to escape capture by the authorities and take refuge in the forest and mountain sound. Along the way, the character also runs into creatures that threaten his existence and therefore is forced to travel only at night to avoid visibility from any external forces.
In the first stanza, it proves the statement that “journeys are commonly instigated by escape from a previous circumstance that doesn’t appeal to the individual.” In accordance to the song, the character had to escape as quickly as possible “from all the trouble [he] he had caused with [his two hands.” Apart from that, the use of the metaphor “travelling on with nothing but a shadow” where the shadow refers to the character’s guilt that he carries along as he escapes, shows one of the emotional obstacle that the character encounters throughout his journey.
The second stanza demonstrates the understanding that journeys are always speckled with obstacles which we have learn from and at the same time accounts for the importance of the journey itself rather than the final destination. In “Mountain Sound,” the traveller encounters are beings that had scars and scratches too unnatural to be of natural causes thus sparking his curiosity about their past. Upon further observation however, the traveller suddenly realises that these strangers were probably creatures that were not human based on the reference to “we were nothing like the rest.” The use of the phrase “as I looked around” hints that the traveller was
Mountain Sound
Of Monsters and Men
Song
September 2nd, 2012
“Mountain Sound” is a song performed by Icelandic indie pop band Of Monsters and Men which was released as a second single from their debut studio album “My Head is An Animal.” Written by Arnar Rósenkranz, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar Þórhallsson, it tells the story of a character who commits a crime or action that opposes the values and cultural norm of his society. He then flees from the area to escape capture by the authorities and take refuge in the forest and mountain sound. Along the way, the character also runs into creatures that threaten his existence and therefore is forced to travel only at night to avoid visibility from any external forces.
In the first stanza, it proves the statement that “journeys are commonly instigated by escape from a previous circumstance that doesn’t appeal to the individual.” In accordance to the song, the character had to escape as quickly as possible “from all the trouble [he] he had caused with [his two hands.” Apart from that, the use of the metaphor “travelling on with nothing but a shadow” where the shadow refers to the character’s guilt that he carries along as he escapes, shows one of the emotional obstacle that the character encounters throughout his journey.
The second stanza demonstrates the understanding that journeys are always speckled with obstacles which we have learn from and at the same time accounts for the importance of the journey itself rather than the final destination. In “Mountain Sound,” the traveller encounters are beings that had scars and scratches too unnatural to be of natural causes thus sparking his curiosity about their past. Upon further observation however, the traveller suddenly realises that these strangers were probably creatures that were not human based on the reference to “we were nothing like the rest.” The use of the phrase “as I looked around” hints that the traveller was