Mumford & Sons
Wilder Mind
May 4 2015 (Gentlemen Of The Road / Island)
7.5/10
Words: Alison Mack
Being something of a Marmite band hasn't done much to dent the popularity of banjo loving indie folkies Mumford & Sons’. That they have now done away their beloved instrument for this, their third album, may do as much to win new fans as it will seemingly continue to impress the die-hard fans of the quartet.
Out go the banjos, accordions and acoustic guitars, bringing in Winston Marshall’s electric guitar in partnership with Ben Lovett’s synth and organ, aided and abetted by propulsive drums. Out goes producer Markus Dravs - who helmed albums one and two - in favour of The National's Aaron Dessner on initial sessions and then James Ford (Florence, Arctics); making Dessner’s influence tangible from the off on opening melancholic track, ‘Tompkins Square Park’ (an East Village park) that leads into Marcus Mumford’s smokey vocal; likewise, ‘Ditmas’ - one of the highlights - is the Brooklyn park, home of The National.
From ‘Believe’s twanging guitars and big arena riffs, to the hard-thrusting second single ‘The Wolf’ which generates fiercely strummed guitars and a typical Mumfords building chorus that crashes into a raucous display; to 'Snake Eyes' that builds gradually on a gently pulsing beat and Marcus M's whisper of a vocal, and is perhaps one of the tracks that could have easily been picked from 'Babel', depending on one's view of Mumford & Sons, this latest album may be a triumphal work, reflected in a collection of songs that work around bittersweet emotions, with consummate ease. Or a load of old folkies ambling down a hip electric road, and ending up sounding a tad pretentious in so doing.
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