If I were prone to street preaching, then I’d be down on the corner this morning, shouting to the world about Mumford & Sons.
And no, despite what its (kind of terrible) name implies, Mumford & Sons is not North America’s number one distributor of reasonably-priced winter wear. It’s a British folk-rock band fronted by Marcus Mumford.
Check that: It’s an amazing British folk-rock band.
Sigh No More, the band’s debut album, has the grandeur of Arcade Fire, the raw emotion of The Swell Season, and the muscular melody of R.E.M. during their Out of Time and Automatic for the People years.
Their music is passionate, authentic, beautiful. I don’t know how to say this without hyperbole, so just indulge me… their music makes me feel more alive. It fills me with emotions so strong that I can’t really define them. At least not yet.
But I want to share this music before I “understand it.” I’m still in the “pre-critical” phase of my enjoyment—I’m still just feeling the rush of each song—and I want to spread that feeling far and wide.
So after the jump, I’ll embed my current favorite songs. I hope they speak to you, too.
(1) “Little Lion Man” — The group’s debut single in England, where their album reached the top ten last fall. It skitters between hushed verses and frantic-banjo choruses.
(2) “Winter Winds” — I wish I had a car. This would be my anthem for late-night driving, when I want to shout the hell out of singing along.
(3) “White Blank Page” — A heartbreaker. Over plaintive, increasingly intense music, Mumford burns with anger-pain as he sings lines like, “Tell me now where was my fault/In loving you with my whole heart?”







7 responses so far ↓
1 Rae // Feb 24, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Preach it! I love that they are finally picking up some traction in the states. If only so it means they’ll do more shows here. I’m still bummed I missed seeing them in LA at the beginning of the month. (And they were just in NY too.)
2 Wendy Rosenfield // Feb 24, 2010 at 2:12 pm
The Brits are so good at making pop music matter. Here, this would be a lo-fi beard-rock band and the song a dirge. Over there it’s Come on Eileen and Big Country once more, with feeling.
3 Mark Blankenship // Feb 24, 2010 at 2:56 pm
I hear you, Wendy… One of the reasons I love this music is that it’s so sincere. It doesn’t have any of the cool-guy remove of an American band like The Grizzly Bears or The Dirty Projectors.
4 Erin // Mar 5, 2010 at 1:40 pm
About halfway through the first track and I’m off to buy this right now!
Fantastic stuff!
5 Emily // Jun 8, 2010 at 11:35 am
I’m several months late, but I’m now completely obsessed with Mumford & Sons. So powerful! It’s so hard not to sing out loud on the train.
6 Tana // Oct 25, 2010 at 11:37 am
Thanks so, so much for this post months ago. Got me totally hooked. Saturday night I saw them live at the Vogue in Vancouver and it was the best show I’ve ever seen. The best. No hyperbole. So much fun.
7 Mark Blankenship // Oct 25, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Tana… that makes my day! I’m seeing them in a few weeks here in NYC, and I cannot WAIT!
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