Mumford & Sons (2023)

One Liner: Roots rocking Americana revivalists with two great albums and then ...

Wikipedia Genre: Folk rock, alternative rock, indie folk
Home: London

Poster Position: 1

Both Weekends.

Sunday.

Thoughts:  Here is what I said in 2019: "I'm honestly shocked that they were named to the top of the ACL bill yet again."  And I feel the same way again now, especially after Mumford (without the Sons) was here last year.  And in my opinion, Marcus makes the sound of this band, regardless of whether the sons are back there or not.  But whatever, at least Mumford is SIGNIFANTLY better than some electro-dork twiddling knobs on a main stage.

They were here in 2016, then 2019, so it looks like we are on a three-year-gap-cycle (accounting for the missing COVID year).  But to me that feels like too short of a gap.  I feel like those bands who make the quick turnaround to come back to play again are usually ones whose star has shot up or their stature has changed in a major way.  Like Chance the Rapper coming back several times, with only year gaps, as he went from mixtape rapper to megastar.  Have the Sons released new music since 2019?  No.  Didn't they almost break up?  Sort of.  We'll dig into all of that here.

First things first, I like Mumford & Sons.  I don't want you to get the impression here at the start that I am a hater.  Their first two albums were awesome.  The thing that I am not entirely comprehending is why they should headline by beloved ACL without any new music or buzz, when instead the C3 folks should have booked Taylor Swift or an REM reunion show.  ;)

I know someone can likely argue with me about the genesis of the throwback-stomping-roots-folk-rock movement, but to me its these guys.  And they did it with no warning, just a guerrilla attack blast of banjo and emotionally-charged power.  When "Little Lion Man" started getting alternative radio play, from 2009's Sigh No More, I think we were all kind of confused about what was going on, and then you found yourself standing on top of your Accord, ripping off your shirt, pumping your fist, and yelling about how you really f'ed it up this time.

That chorus, and then the soaring aaaaaahhhhhaaaaaahhhaaaaaaa! in the middle are just so great.  And they still feel real and unsullied after several years and a load of copy cats. That one clocks in at 592 million streams on Spotify (and that is up from 124.5 million in 2016 and 251.5 in 2019, so they are still getting mad plays after all these years).  I actually would have expected that "The Cave" to be the top track off of that album, but it only fires up 444 million (118.8 million in 2016, 253 million in 2019). The banjo speed on that track is impressive. But that album was massively popular, selling enough to become more than 3x platinum in the U.S. and similarly huge in other countries.

The second album, 2012's Babel, didn't sell as many copies, but won the Grammy for Album of the Year and felt even bigger than the first disc.  They didn't stray from the original formula, sticking to fist-pumping banjo rock and earnest lyrics with great sing-along choruses.  The big hit from this album, and the band's biggest track overall (just baaaaaarely), is "I Will Wait," with over 593 million streams (150.5 million in 2016, 310.5 million in 2019).

I have a special spot in my heart for that song because when my youngest kiddo was still very small, that was about the only song she knew the lyrics to and it was damn cute when she would repeat along with it in the back seat of the 'burb as we tooled around life.  Anyway, Babel picks up right where Sigh left off and is excellent.  I can get it if you don't like rock or dislike bluegrass or whatever, but it is hard to deny the propulsive joy I feel when I hear these songs.

And then the third album.  Oh, that third album.  As I said in my original review of the album, it isn't actually bad music, its just disappointing because of the legacy created by this band. If this album had been released under a pseudonym, no one would have noticed it because it is generically blah, but people wouldn't have crapped all over it either.  Just another middling soft rock album in a pile of eight billion that have disappeared into history.  But because it was Mumford & Sons, and they turned their back on their core sound and style, everybody hated it. I just read something in Rolling Stone where one of the band members said they could have made Sign No More 2, but then they all would have been depressed. I don't know, man, is it better to be depressed because fans and critics alike hate your new album, or to be depressed because your massively popular third album just won some more Grammys, made you a jillion dollars, and created world peace?

And since that weak third album, their next small effort decided to go even further afield from their original sound and go full-on Paul Simon and give their music the Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints treatment.  A short five song EP called Johannesburg came out in 2016, and is actually really enjoyable.  Of course, I am a sucker for Graceland and even facsimiles of Graceland (like Vampire Weekend), so this one hits a sweet spot for me.  The EP was a project with Baaba Maal ("legendary Senegalese singer"), The Very Best ("Swedish-Malawian" "electronic pop collective"), and Beatenberg ("South African pop trio"), hammered out when Mumford & Sons toured down to South Africa and decided to make something with all of these disparate artists. I get that some people may continue to crap on the band here, for an imperialistic appropriation of sounds or sonic tourism or whatever, but if anyone seems earnest and real about just wanting to join up with these people and make music, it's this band.  Screw it, I like these songs.  The album opener is "There Will Be Time."

I see the poor banjo guy picking at his axe during that video, but I can't say that I hear any of the old school banjo-fied soul Mumford, but you definitely get the earnest, soaring sing-along that honestly just gave me goosebumps in watching that video.  The second track, "Wona" sounds just like Vampire Weekend to me.  I couldn't find who sang it in a 3 second google search, but if it isn't Ezra Keonig I'd be surprised.  And then the closer, "Si Tu Veux" is a real beauty.

I've been bummed for years that I missed out on a special show they did in Austin.  They had a show with the Austin High Band, in which I was a player back almost 30 years ago.  Ugh.  

Man, I wanted to be part of the drum line something fierce.  In the caste system of the high school marching band, at least in my memory's eye, it went something like this: drums > trumpet > saxophone > tuba > those other big ass horns that I think were called baritones > trombone > clarinet > xylophones and other weird pit shit > french horn > flute and piccolo.  If I forgot your instrument, you go below the flutes.  And I think this was part of this cool tour they did where they traveled across the country on a train (the Railroad Revival Tour) and played shows with Edward Sharpe and Old Crow Medicine Show from the train. Sounded so cool. But I missed out on that.  

Their ACL show in 2016 was actually really great.  They are high energy, their hits are truly fantastic to bop along to in a big crowd, and the crowd was into it.  But since then, they really haven't done anything to increase the excitement level here.

Instead, 2018's Delta was released with a whimper, with a 5.8 (of 10) from Pitchfork ("Modern rock isn’t dead—it’s just weightless."), a 2 star (of 5) from Rolling Stone ("Experimental new album takes the band’s sound to gloomy extremes."), a bad review from SPIN ("The result is an hour-long slog with only a few brief realizations of their old potential before the next crescendo hits."), and an overall 59% on Metacritic.  My review of it was as I remember this album, uneven - with a few good songs, and then a handful of actively bad tracks.

And no new music since then except for a 2020 single called "Bling Leading the Blind."  Has 20 million streams though!

Comes on heavy with the banjo and the Of Monsters and Men vibe.  Really a good track.  Feels like they went back to some of the power that made them dope in the first place.  I especially like the breakdown after the first verse.  Those bashing drums are great.

Back to the comment earlier about them potentially breaking up.  Winston Marshall (check out his full name - Winston Aubrey Aladar deBalkan Marshall (!!!)) was the banjo guy and lead guitarist for the band (I mean, they are all labeled as multi-instrumentalists, but those were his main jobs).  But in March 2021, Marshall praised one of those right-wing outrage dorks, Andy Ngo, on Twitter for his 2021 book Unmasked, which is deeply critical of the antifa movement.  Social media blew up on Marshall, and he announced he was taking time away from the band.  He apologized, but it was one of those "if you were offended then you shouldn't have been because I'm not a fascist" things, and then he announced that he was leaving Mumford & Sons so that he could speak his mind on controversial issues without his bandmates and their families suffering the consequences.  Which, like not making Sigh No More 2, is deeply stupid.  Just shut up and count your freaking money, you moron.  He's become a little right-wing celeb for giving up his luxe lifestyle to speak his mind - google him and dopey publications like the New York Post praise his decision.

  

But, the band is soldiering on, apparently now just a three-some of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards, piano).  I assume they have hired a new banjo guy, but Wikipedia doesn't mention him.  

The weird thing, yet again, is just that without new music it seems like an odd time to bring them right back out as a top headliner.  Everyone who comes to the show is going to just want to hear the classics from Babel and Sigh No More.  No one is coming to that show hoping that they go for deep cuts off of Delta.  So, pretty much the same show as seven years ago, right?

I'll give you two songs from Delta as well, despite my description up above.  First, their most popular is "Guiding Light," and I'll fully admit that its a solid tune.  121.6 million streams.

A feel good video.  What's not to like?  A driving, insistent feel to the song and a joyous chorus, it feels like the old Mumford back for another run.  Actually, I asked a question, and my answer is the lyrics - the lyrics to this song are super generic platitudes.  "I had it all on the line" and "you'll always be my only guiding light" and whatnot, there is nothing original or interesting in those words at all.  Now I'll give you a weird video that puts together two of the songs I really hate, along with some cool imagery.  This is "Picture You" and "Darkness Visible."  21 and 13 million streams, respectively.

I mean, what is that electro-snap BS?  "Darkness Visible" has the fewest streams of anything on the album, so I'm not alone in being disappointed by this stuff.

When they played in 2019, the setlist counts were about like this: seven songs from Delta (ugh), five songs from Wilder Mind (double mega-uggh), four songs from Sigh No More, three songs from Babel, and three covers ("Walking on Sunshine," NIN's "Hurt," and "You Shook Me All Night Long," which are actually pretty fun covers for them to tackle).  So that kind of sucks.  A good bit more than half of the tunes will be from their two newer albums, and we'll only get the biggest hits from the OG stuff.  Luckily, I just looked up their most recent show, and a short set looked like this:  Babel 3, Sigh No More 3, Wilder Mind 3, Delta 2.  That's a better sweet spot!

We'll see who might be opposite them, but I'd likely expect that they'd be on my dance card at the end of the day.  "I WILL WAIT I WILL WAIT FOR YOU!"