Mumford & Sons Sigh No More (Island)
5/5
By: Stephen Maughan
William Wordsworth, the Romantic poet, wrote that poetry should be about “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”. It's an ethos that this London band have taken to heart on Sigh No More, their debut album. In fact, Marcus Mumford and his sons have seemingly burst out of nowhere to deliver a majestic album of hope and love that, just in time, will feature on many top ten albums of the year lists.
Although, not everyone’s - my Sunday newspaper gave Sigh No More a terrible review claiming that it was no more than “rich kids” deciding to play folk because of the success of Fleet Foxes. Let's clear this up quickly before we move on. If you want to bring money into it, you might as well have dismissed Is This It because of The Strokes’ privileged private school background. Secondly, the Fleet Foxes record was great – but this sounds nothing like it.
The so-called New English folk scene may not mean much to you, but apparently Mumford & Sons have been creating quite a stir in it over the last couple of years. Before you start shouting “Seth Lakeman!” at me in disgust, rest assured this is a different league altogether. When recording Sigh No More they recruited the talents of producer Markus Dravs to tighten their sound and bring the same magic that Dravs conjured up for Arcade Fire.
The result is a something quite magnificent, and unexpected. Although not in the same league (let’s not get ahead of ourselves), Sigh No More conjures up dusty images of the great epics of literature, the compassion of William Faulkner, the imagination of Cormac McCarthy and the depth of the Old Testament, such is the scale of their ambition on this record.
“Spare me your judgements and spare me your dreams...I sit alone in this winter clarity that clouds my mind - and I'm on my knees and the water creeps to my chest” Mumford scowls on the sorrorful 'Thistle and Weeds'. This relentless determination is spiked with a hopelessly romantic, loser soul - "Tell me now where was my fault, in loving you with my whole heart?" Mumford cries (almost) on 'White Blank Page'.
Musically, it's an ambitious mix of folk which verges on bluegrass, acoustic, country, even pop, with the good old banjo thrown in to electrifying results. It really is quite a breathtaking album, both lyrically and musically bursting with ideas and enthusiasm. At the end of the 47 or so minutes you forget it's a date so futuristic as 2009, such are the timeless issues of life, hope, grace, and death which Mumford & Sons deal with on Sigh No More that you can imagine a gang of brothers singing this in the middle ages marching to a hopeless battle; or indeed Markus Mumford sharing a pint with a certain Mr. Wordsworth.
These boys not only have an infectious passion and energy in their songs, they could well change your whole idea of what folk music is all about.
Watch our session with Mumford and Sons below:
Artists in this article: Mumford and Sons
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment