Is this Mumford and Sons? I had to email the label to find out for sure. “The Wolf” is not the Mumford you know, and it is. Marcus’ voice is there, but you won’t hear the complaints of being Coldplay-like as you might have with the first single, “Believe”, from their upcoming album, “Wilder Mind.” That album will be out on May 4th. You aren’t getting the folk banjo here either. I had visions of The Sex Pistols from the beginning of “The Wolf.” How off is that for an impression of a Mumford and Sons’ song? It’s the kind of thought that makes me wonder if my mind is okay. If I am buttering my toast in the morning properly.
I can truly say my cynical, music-saturated mind is pretty eager to hear this album. This is a band that brought the banjo bands out of the woodwork and changed modern rock with one album. It will be interesting to see what they will do to the musical landscape with “Wilder Mind.” An appropriate sounding title from the songs we’ve heard so far.
This also leads to a whole other discussion about what happens when a band evolves. If the lose too much of their authenticity on the second run out* (which has happened many times over the last decade, maybe two) they often never get it back, but there are a crop of bands this year with second or follow-up album that are phenomenal: Courtney Barnett, Purity Ring and I am very much looking forward to the new Alabama Shakes, which is out on the 21st of this month. On the other hand, if a band continues to pound a sound for decade after decade, an engaged listener can easily lose interest. There are some bands I have loved for years and when a new album arrives I tend to go back to their older records simply because I get it. I don’t have to see the new Will Farrell movie to know I have already seen it.
You are going to dig this.
*Yes, I know this is Mumford and Sons’ 3rd album
