Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
I have a slightly mixed relationship with Mumford & Sons, and not really for great reasons. I remember being amazed by them the first time I saw them live, and their first EP in particular was a superb piece of work. That was just as they started to go from being very much under the radar to very much on it, and I am not sure whether it was because the awe wore off or because a couple of internal miscommunications saw them renege on a promise to play a show for a friend up here, and so I sort of sulked with them a bit, which I know is largely unreasonable, but there you are.
Whatever the cause, I’ve taken my eye off them for the last eight months or so, during which time my prediction from seeing their first show – that they genuinely had the chance to break out of the alternative into the mainstream and make it quite big – seems increasingly to be coming true. I am not claiming much cleverness in making that prediction of course, it really was obvious to everyone.
This album has been a little while coming, and contains a lot of old favourites from their preceding two EPs, so fans of the band will be pretty familiar with most of the songs already. There’s also a grandiosity and an earnestness to their stuff which earned Broken Records’ debut album so much opprobrium, and I will repeat what I said about that album here: the way to deal with that kind of thing is not to fight it and not to pretend it isn’t there; just embrace it, turn the stereo up fucking loud and enjoy. That was the way to enjoy Until the Earth Begins to Part, and it’s also the way to enjoy this.
They are like a euphoric four-man gospel choir when they really get going, and it’s all very soaring and words like that which we pseudo-journalists love. But it is soaring. Thunderous is also what it is. Marcus Mumford used to be Laura Marling’s drummer* and even when the band were playing small DIY shows he brought along a kick-drum, so there was always a thumping rhythm driving on through the set with real passion. It makes you want to dance – even me.
A couple of the songs are merely quite good, so I can’t pretend to maintain quite the reckless crush I indulged after the first time I came across the band at the Captain’s Rest in Glasgow, but there are a lot of really brilliant tunes on this record, and I can’t help imagining them all in a live setting and that manic buzz Mumford & Sons give the audience when they play.
Dust Bowl Dance might be the one big winner for me on Sigh No More. It’s not my favourite song – that would be between the two early ones, Awake My Soul or White Blank Page – but the way it builds from a gentle piano and banjo-led lament to a full on electric guitar explosion at the end is as good an embodiment of the whirlwind these lads can generate. It may be too straight-faced to please the ironists or too smooth for the experimentalists, but as blazing pop albums based on an indie-folk template go, this is as good as you’re likely to hear.
Mumford & Sons – White Blank Page
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Mumford & Sons – Dust Bowl Dance
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
MySpace | More mp3s | Buy from Amazon
*And he must also be mightily sick of seeing that fact mentioned in reviews. Sorry Marcus.
after the storm was the surprise for me the lyrics just crumbled me. i adore it though i think it is the album of the year for me. 100% agree with dustbowl dance it is huge.
i’ve never listened to these lot……should i?
See them live if you get the chance, Chutters. I really think it’ll be right up your street.
My pre-order CD hasn’t arrived yet, so I can’t comment on the album as a whole just yet.
I’m glad that it sounds like the new songs they played last time they were in Edinburgh are living up to their potential.
I was trying to describe the Mumford live vocal sound to Dianna and her friend at the Toad house gig on Friday night, explaining how it’s nothing like your regular rock band set-up with a lead singer backed up by some other band members going “ooh – aah” in the background, bu tmore of a complete, almost choral experience. I ended up likening the experience to those old Maxell cassette commercials where the guy sits in his chair in front of the stereo and gets blown backwards by the gale of sound coming from the speakers.
So yeah, go and see them live if you can.
I was told they sound like a cross between Woodenbox and Frightened Rabbit
That, without wishing to be rude, doesn’t really come close. Maybe FR’s live passion, but that’s about it.
It’s pretty good this I think. It’s on Spotify for those of you who don’t have a copy yet and like that sort of thing.
Like the other, I really like this, but it’s a bit odd listening to it as an album since so much of it has been released before. The new tracks aren’t as good as the oldies either, but maybe give them some time. Mind you, when I saw them a couple of months ago, one of the best songs was one they’d only just written. Live is where it’s at, like we’re all sayin’…
Matthew. I’m sorry. But I just listened to Little Lion Man. The start could be Frightened Rabbit. The chorus could be Woodenbox. It’s fucking brilliant. But the person who made the Frightened Rabbit/Woodenbox comparison was spot on. The stuff you have played is completely different. I prefer the single. Great stuff though. Look forward to getting the album.
I meant more that it might be like that, but it’s like that times ten, so the comparison might describe the sound, but doesn’t really come close to capturing the energy these lads can generate when they get going on stage.
Mind you, I’m sure really keen FR fans would disagree on that point.
Well I’ve never seen them live so I can’t comment on that. I would also say that I don’t agree that the above songs sound like that, just the single which could not be more like it if it tried. The end in particular. I really like everything I’ve heard to date.
I’m not so sure Marcus’ll mind so much, the band played on her album recently & from the conversation I had with them back at the time of the TWR interview they seemed very relaxed with the association & consider them selves linked to that ‘family’ of musicians.
As for the album, I don’t think you can compare what they do & have presented here at all with BR, especially when the major criticism of their LP was the pomposity of lyric/production/arrangement. There’s really nothing of the kind here. If anything this will secure their US break through that has been perculating quite nicely over the last year. Something that will alude BR until they sort their ‘sound’ out.
That’s not just my opinion either, moreso the US radio stations playing the M&S stuff constantly because the demand is there. They’re definitely considered the real deal.
Dave Fucking Matthews Fucking . . . oh, never mind. It’s good, isn’t it?
I love Mumford & Sons and Woodenbox, if I’m honest I’m a bit ‘meh’ about Frightened Rabbit.
I will categorically state that none of the three bands sounds anything like any of the others.
Yeah, I’m pretty much with you on that, although I wouldn’t put Woodenbox in the same bracket as the Mumfords.
And DC, whilst I don’t think the comparison to Broken Records extends that far, they do have a bit in common. Both have a tendency for their music to swell to really quite grand proportions, and neither contain much humour or irony in the lyrics. Both records are also pretty smoothly produced, although this certainly has more breathing room, but it’s hardly music with any edge or scratch or growl to the sound.
I don’t think it’s a close comparison by any means, but there are definite similarities.
First, teensy hijacking of the thread to wish DC a Happy Birthday, xoxo
Second, well as a FR fan of embarassing proportions I guess what people might see in M&S that calls them to mind is somewhat the lyrical quality and delivery. But also a sort of controlled recklessness, at least on record and in the videos. It’s passionate, you must grant them that, and genuinely so, it appears. That is a lot of what is lovely about this band and about the few tracks I’ve heard and the two videos I’ve seen.
The live session over at The Waiting Room is really gorgeous. And yes, I did think if the Builders and Butchers while hearing it.
Comparisons to Broken Records, I think could only be made in terms of how the respective albums are received by the critics and publics and that remains to be seen, eh?
Builders & the Butchers is a good comparison, although a lot smoother.
Dylan. I couldnt give a shite if you “categorically” state it. I hear it. Listen to Little Lion Man. Tart nails it on the head. It’s the lyrical and vocal delivery that reminds me of FR. And I’m sorry, but I play in Woodenbox and I hear massive amounts of Woodenbox in their sound. Not that they even know who Woodenbox are or vice versa probably.
Hhhhhhmmmmmmm
Euan, the Frightened Rabbit comparison is just wrong. The other day I said on here that I heard echoes of Gerard Langley from the Blue Aeroplanes in George Pringle’s vocal phrasing. Doesn’t mean George Pringle’s stuff bears any other resemblance to The Blue Aeroplanes!
And even if you want to argue there is any similarity between Marcus Mumford and Scott Hutchison as vocal performers – an incredibly tenuous argument to begin with – it’s utterly irrelevant as the overall experience of listening to the two bands is so vastly different.
There are some superficial similiarities between the Mumfords and Woodenbox; mainly in terms of instrumentation, i.e. both bands use musical instruments. Far more significant, however, is the difference in their influences and reference points, and the biggest thing between the two bands in terms of influence and reference is the Atlantic Ocean.
Anyway, CDs arrived now. And it’s signed! Woo!
I don’t even need to listen to the Mumford boys to know that you’re talking utter poo, my fair dancing partner
The start and ending of Little Lion Man sounds like Frightened Rabbit . Simple as that. If you don’t hear that I don’t care.
Woodenbox’s biggest influences are UK bands – are you saying Mumford and Sons sound American now!??
Anyways, I never said they sound exaclty like Woodenbox or Frightened Rabbit. I said their single has moments of both. And it does.
I give up. You win.
I hereby state that I can’t tell any difference between Frightened Rabbit, Mumford & Sons, Woodenbox or the sound of me banging my head against the desk.
If I came on here and said grass was green you two would argue with me for the sake of it.
Maybe, but you’re talking in absolutes Dylan, and things are never that black and white. That’s all!
Dylan – I said one song reminded me of FR and Woodenbox. I’m not saying everything they do does. I’m saying one particular song does which happens to be their single and the first thing I heard. I think you need to calm down.
It’s nothing to do with you. I hear it. If you don’t, then you don’t. I don’t care. And I certainly don’t care for arguing with you.
Both have a tendency for their music to swell to really quite grand proportions, and neither contain much humour or irony in the lyrics. Both records are also pretty smoothly produced, although this certainly has more breathing room, but it’s hardly music with any edge or scratch or growl to the sound.
I don’t think it’s a close comparison by any means, but there are definite similarities.
So what you’re saying is they write/play music, intense music, which ebbs & flows & swells & rarely takes into account any humour in its lyrics & has been through a production process that sets it apart from the earlier/rougher versions/records created with less money thrown at the end product? With all due respect, you’re practically describing anyone from Travis to Coldplay to Spiritualized to any number of bands. I’m just not entirely sure how we get to Broken Records with such a broad sweep of the tar brush.
Now you’re being deliberately obtuse. When you move away from here where do you get to first, then?
Somewhere very folk related. Somewhere with lots of furious energy and a tendency to grandiose climaxes at the end of their songs, and also a band who are playing it absolutely straight and unironically.
You could maybe compare them to scene-mates Johnny Flynn, but I think they’re too swelling and grandiose for that. You could also perhaps compare them to somenpf the gospelly, bluegrassy stuff by which they are so clearly influenced, but I think they’re too obviously English for that.
Broken Records and Kill It Kid (who I don’t like all that much) are about the only real comparisons I can think of which make any sense, particularly in terms of energy, taste for the grand and lack of obvious irony.
If you think that’s a bad comparison I’d be very interested to know who you think their closest cousins are in contemporary music.
And no, Frightened Rabbit is the wrong answer
Little lion man does indeed sound a fair bit like our pals frabbit…..deal with it people
If you think about how different the instrumentation is between the two bands, it can’t really sound that much like it.
You could say that if you gave it a different arrangement, it might sound like Frightened Rabbit, but then with a different arrangement you could make it sound liek the Pet Shop Boys.
I don’t think the argument here is as simple as whether or not the Mumfords sound a bit like Frightened Rabbit sometimes; I actually think it’s more down to the fact that any similarities that do exist between the two bands are irrelevant and unsubstantial when you take into account the distinct overall experiences the two bands offer the listener individually.
you can intellectualise as much as you want. Dylan…..but Little Lion Man sounds like an Frabbit song….thats all.
Mumford and Sons sound nothing like Frightened Rabbit. That is a fact. Just because Frightened Rabbit might use a chord progression similar to a Kate Bush song in one of their tracks, you wouldn’t go about saying that they sound like Kate Bush, would you.
I was playing the the Mumford album in my flat and my good lady goes “is that Frightened Rabbit’s new stuff”
there is an essence of Frabbit in the a couple of the songs, if you can’t hear it, so be it.
Doesn’t mean they set out to do it, it’s just there. esp in Little Lion Man.
what is wrong with you matthew and dylan?? I started the FR thing by saying that elements of 1 song…..1 song….not the whole lot….. sounds like FR to me. as it does to my wife. and now to tom and to cathy as well. and I’m sure it does to others. I hear it. fact. you don’t. fact. why is it such an issue to you both??? i wasn’t wanting an argument. i was making a simple point about their new single – which may i say sounds like it was written with radio play specifically in mind, given what I’ve hear of their other stuff. anyways, simply put, you cannot argue that i don’t hear FR in little lion man because i do. so why bother??
regardless I’m starting to really like this album……it’s not going to change the world or be in my top 10 at the end of the year….but it is very enjoyable
Euan, if you look carefully, and try not to lump me into your argument with Dylan, you’ll see that I am not debating that particular point. Dylan is being peverse in refusing to argue your actual point, but you two are being just as bad.
I don’t particularly hear it, but I am not arguing with people claiming to hear Frabbit in Little Lion Man. I am just saying that similarities in bits of one song doesn’t necessarily extrapolate to ‘Mumford and Sons sound like Frightened Rabbit’ because as Dylan says the differences are so big as to completely outweigh the similarities over the course of an album.
The reason it fucking annoys me is that when you lot start bickering you refuse to acknowledge the actual point the other is making in order to be Absolutely Right. All three of you. Yes, one song might sound like Frightened Rabbit, Dylan. No, Chutters and Euan, the band as a whole do not sound anything like Frightened Rabbit when you look at them in a more generalised way. Those two points, which you’ve all made over and over again, do not actually contradict one another at all – they can both be right.
Now all three of you stop fucking sniping at each other like fucking babies.
“Mumford and Sons sound nothing like Frightened Rabbit. That is a fact. Just because Frightened Rabbit might use a chord progression similar to a Kate Bush song in one of their tracks, you wouldn’t go about saying that they sound like Kate Bush, would you.”
I don’t know how to do the italics!!
For the record Matthew. You said this. And if YOU look carefully, I never said M&S sound like FR per se. I said one song, 1 part of a song even, reminded me of them. That’s all. If YOU read the thread in full you will see me acknowledge and accept that the band do not sound like FR in general – therefore accepting Dylan’s point completely.
I never started any argument and all I did throughout the thread was point out how stupid the argument was. The whole thing is exactly the same as when I said I didn’t like James so Dylan made me a mix cd to prove to me I did. It’s pointless. I have not argued anything on this thread. Nothing. Because you cannot argue something that is fact.
But thanks for the lecture and pointing out my flaws. Appreciate that.
FFS
IPC
Finally gotten around to realising what a bloody awesome lot these guys are. My local record shop is giving me a call when the album finally arrives in store. In the meantime, I’m frantically downloading all I can to tide me over. They’re playing the Laneway Festival here in Oz in January so I’ll be sure to nab a ticket when they go on sale – sounds like I’ll be in for a good time!
Yep – they’re phenomenal live.