Icelandic band Mono Town on finding success through music streaming

With their debut singles released exclusively on Deezer in November achieving nearly a million streams in just two months, we’re proud to be supporting seriously talented Icelandic band, Mono Town. We caught up with the band about what we can expect with their debut album ‘In The Eye Of The Storm’, released next week on Deezer, and about how interacting with fans online is crucial to their success. Expect big things in 2014!

You’re releasing your first album soon, exclusively on Deezer. What can we expect in terms of themes and sounds compared to ‘Jackie O’?

More of adventurous and exciting sounds and heart-wrenching melodies. Some surprising turns and epic endings. To sum it up, the soundtrack of our lives.

You worked with Michael Brauer who is certainly not a newcomer when it comes to mixing albums (Coldplay, Dylan, McCartney, The Vaccines). How do you think your album benefited from this collaboration?

It was great and an honour working with Michael Brauer and his staff. A very fun guy and a real professional. He knows how to emphasise the important details of music and always has his focus on the end result. We approached him for a reason, and he didn’t let us down.

What inspires you?

Great authentic music, exciting textures, beautiful melodies and life in general.

How do you discover new music?

We have some resources through friends and so on. But popping open a bottle of red wine, putting our headphones on, logging in to Deezer and surfing, that’s our preferred choice.

How important is your online presence to you and your fans, and what do you do to maintain it?

Online presence is very important to us. It is the vehicle that allows us to build new relationships with our fans and also create new ones. It is important to acknowledge the fans because they allow the band to exist and while there is no secret method, we feel it is important to keep building material online and allow listeners to have a glimpse into our thoughts and artistic process.

The collaboration between Deezer and Mono Town has shown what’s possible in terms of music streaming services promoting new artists. How did it help you?

For every young unsigned band it is very important to be helped reaching out to as wide an audience as possible. Deezer is doing exactly that. For people, for example in Brazil, to be able to discover and listen to an unknown band from Iceland is incredible for us. As our fan base grows so will our online presence. Bands tend to look at other options as the “right” options in regards of distributing their music. Together with Deezer, we’ve done something completely different. Thinking outside the box can sometimes be a very good thing.

Apart from yourselves, what other band should we keep an eye on in 2014?

Caveman. They recently released their second album called Caveman. We actually met them in Iceland while they were performing an off venue gig at KEX Hostel for the Seattle based radio station KEXP. They are New York based and were touring Europe for the first time. Their album is very good and they seemed to be honest and hard working. And we like that. And if things go right for them, they could be in for a good year. So check them out …after you’ve listened to our new album ‘In The Eye Of The Storm’ of course.

What album are you listening to right now?

Histoire De Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg. We’re getting in to the right mood for our up-coming Paris trip.

Do you already have plans for a tour?

We’re playing in Paris as a part of a festival called Air D´Islande at Le Point Ephémère on February 1st. And then we have other plans ongoing but nothing we can reveal now unfortunately, so stay tuned for more news on www.monotownmusic.com or www.facebook.com/monotownband.

Thanks for the insightful interview and bon voyage for your Paris gig!

UPDATE: Listen Mono Town’s debut album ‘In The Eye Of The Storm’ below, exclusively on Deezer.