Sigh No More, Mumford & Sons
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Hailing from London, England, Mumford and Sons comes on the indie folk scene singing loud and proud. Their deep-rooted love for country, folk, and bluegrass is completely clear in their debut album Sigh No More. Though the CD was released in February of this year, I feel that it’s worth a review. Besides, the band is definitely worth getting the word out about – in fact, Mumford and Sons would be a choice of mine for a future Greek Week band in the concert put on by the CAC. Mumford and Sons is one of the few folk bands that I know of from London who has made their way over to the USA. Not only have they made it across the pond, but with their signing to Island Records, they’ve made it to 127th on the US charts.
The CD is full of folk anthems and vocal harmonies that you just want to sing at the top of your lungs with the rest of the band when you’re driving in your car with all the windows down. Yet, at the same time, the CD has its fair share of mellow songs. While the whole band does sing on the record, Marcus Mumford is the one who does the heavy lifting in that respect. Many of the songs on the record can be easily compared to a lot of Fleet Foxes work with the layers of country-sounding vocal harmonies and slow finger-picking on acoustic guitars and mandolins. While at the same time, the band pulls of some more foot-stompin’ songs to the likes of Bon Iver. This folksy blend of upbeat and sometimes slow and dark songs makes a perfect blend for “Sigh No More.”
To begin the CD, the band opens with “Sigh No More,” which opens with a slow acoustic guitar and vocals, which are covered in layered harmonies. The band has a tendency to start and song out slow and then pick it up in double-time thumping a bass drum on every beat of the measure. Next on the CD we have “The Cave” and “Roll Away Your Stone” with the relaxing trumpet filled melodies of “Winter Winds” smartly placed between the two songs previously mentioned. “The Cave” is certainly one for the ladies with its mellow intro slowly moving into another foot-stomper. “White Blank Page” and “I Gave You All” both are a little more relaxing than the rest of the CD and are great place to slow down in the middle of the CD. These are also some of the darker, more emotional songs on the CD. Finally we come to the bands biggest anthem-bearing song, “Little Lion Man.” This is also the bands first single off of the CD and might be the best song they’ve done. The rest of the CD, consisting of 5 more songs, is much like the beginning, but with more of a country, swaying feel to it, and then concludes with a very laid back song, “After the Storm.”
Mumford and Sons is the next big thing. Their CD can be purchased on most major online CD stores such as iTunes and Amazon or you can pick it up at Best Buy. I don’t care how you get Sigh No More, but I do care that you get it. Again, continue the search for good independent music!
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