Mumford and Sons’ new album – has it lived up to the hype?

Mumford and Sons
Mumford and Sons performs at a concert in 2010. (Photo by Johanna Bocher used under Creative Commons license)

By Ashleigh Buchanan

To say that Mumford and Sons’ new album Babel, released on September 25th, was a much-anticipated album is an understatement.

Their 2009 album, Sigh No More, sold millions of copies all over the world. This album was popular among Indie music fans, as well as breaking its way into the Mainstream genre.

They introduced a modern folk music sound that many people hadn’t heard before, or at least hadn’t heard this type of folk music. Through their unique sound and heartfelt lyrics, they picked up quite a fan following while touring and promoting Sigh No More. Consequently, Mumford and Sons’ fans have been waiting for Babel for years.

Hence the hype and the pressure on Mr. Mumford and his children. (Just kidding, they aren’t a family band). Anyone that’s ever been a fan of a band for more than one album knows that there is a fine line between evolving as a band, but still keeping old fans without making the same sounding CD twice.

So where does Babel fall on that fine line? In my opinion, it’s basically Sigh No More 2.0. But it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Obviously, Sigh No More was a great album. And I think all songs that have a fiddle in it are going to sound similar. So I think that popular songs from Sigh No More are going to sound alot like the songs in Babel that have a lot of fiddle.

Here are some of my favorite songs in Babel:

– Wait For You – You’ve probably heard this one. It’s very typical “Mumford and Sons”-sounding with the fiddle going crazy all over the song. It’s a fun one!

-Holland Road – This song has a great overall sound. One thing I love about Mumford and Sons is the emotion your get through the lyrics, and this is a great example of their passion that is so strong you can feel it even through your small laptop speakers.

– Hopeless Wanderer – There is an awesome piano intro to this song! It’s one of several songs on the album that starts out slow but really picks up the pace by the end of the song.

Something interesting that Rollingstone.com wrote about Mumford and Son is that their latest album release sold 600,000 in the first week, but dropped 72% in it’s second week to sell 169,000 copies. But don’t worry; I think this album and this band will be very successful in the long run.

If you already like Mumford and Sons but you want to listen to some other bands that are like them, check out these bands:

-Of Monsters and Men
-The Lumineers
-The Avett Brothers

Enjoy your new folk-centered playlist!