Mumford & Sons – Love Your Ground
How the hell do you follow up an EP as absolutely stellar as Mumford & Sons’ debut? The answer, inevitably, is with something almost as good but which feels like something a disappoinment in the wake of its predecessor.
This is monumentally unfair, but then it’s virtually impossible for me to guess what I might think of this if I had never heard Lend Me Your Eyes. Nevertheless, there’s no escaping the fact that where the first was brilliant this is merely very good. For most other bands this would still represent a triumph, and I have certainly gushed over far lesser songs, so I actually think it would be possible for this to be a slight let-down. The reason is that not only was the first EP uncommonly superb, but added to that there was the flush of excitement at discovering something new, which amplifies everything.
Listening to this again it’s crimes are trivially small: Feel the Tide is not really that great a song and there is nothing to quite match the giddy heights of White Blank Page or Awake My Soul. Little Lion Man, The Banjolin Song and Hold On to What You Believe are all really bloody good, and it adds to a collection of songs that could make up a superb debut album to knock spots off ninety-eight percent of those hatched this year.
Their four-part harmonies pack as good a vocal punch as anyone I’ve heard, and there’s a rousing, euphoric quality to their songs. The banjo keeps a pretty frenetic pace, and there is a gospel passion to their mixture of bluegrass with a very English sounding sort of indie folk. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: these lads are capable of bloody big things. Keep an eye on ‘em.
Mumford & Sons – Hold On to What You Believe
This unexpected Mumford and Sons post has made my day
I think I read about them here first, and then I went to see them at the Secret Garden Party and they were AMAZING. I can’t really describe how excellent they were. Are. Yeah.
Also this whole blog makes me happy – I’m doing my year abroad in France right now and I really miss Edinubrgh. It’s nice being kept up tp date. x
It’s a difficult one. There’s no escaping the fact that this is a fucking excellent EP performed by four (plus a couple of guests) immensely talented and passionate guys, and it’s still not quite as good as as Lend Me Your Eyes.
If you were to buy an album that featured eight songs as good as the tracks spread across the two EPs – you’d be over the moon with your purchase.
Also, if the Mumford boys had put White Blank Page on one EP and Awake My Soul on the other – we might be proclaiming our astonishment at how they can string together such consistently breathtaking releases.
I’ve written the same as Matthew, haven’t I?.. But fuck it – these guys are great, and there isn’t much out there at the moment that can touch even their second best release to date.
I don’t think I can really add much to that.
I went to see them for the second time in Manchester a few weeks ago and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. After such a great start I was expecting them to keep improving exponentially but it just felt like they’d found a furrow to plough (albeit a very good one) and were sticking in it. They did a cover at the end that stuck out like a sore thumb and put the rest of their work in perspective, showing how it used pretty much the same formula every time. Consistently good but not enough brilliance, although they undoubtedly perform with passion. And the gig was rammed, these guys are so popular, and it made a stark contrast to the O’Death gig I’d been to shortly before which was almost literally a one man and his dog audience. Absolutely criminal.
Katie’s possibly struck an interesting point there, and it’s something that’s crossed my mind too.
After setting the bar as high as they have with their initial impact, Mumford & Sons’ challenge really is where to take things next to avoid getting stuck in a rut.
I think they have the talent and self-belief to meet that challenge and take their sound somewhere interesting, but they may have to sit down, take stock and try and break a few of the moulds they’ve made for themselves.
I don’t want to start a backlash here – I love this band’s music and I really believe they’re one of the most exciting and unique British acts around right now; but in terms of reigning in all that talent and potential, the hard work is just beginning for them.