Wednesday 14 November 2012

Mumford and Sons - "Babel"


Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall, and Ted Dwane are four men with some huge artistic flair. When "Sigh No More" was first released I was instantly taken by what the band produced, there was very little in the way of a "bad track" and the album instantly became a hit with me.

Now almost three years on we have "Babel" an eagerly anticipated album that, quite frankly, I wasn't sure was going to come. It felt like Mumford and Sons were dragging there heels over this one. But a few months when it was announced that a second album was on it's way I was excited."Babel" is an album that remains true to who Mumford and Sons are, the quality of the tracks are there. It seems to take all the good points of "Sigh No More" and weave them together with new material to create a clean and crisps sound. 

For most people "Babel" is an album which remains very similar in feel to "Sigh No More" and that can only be a good thing. Being too far removed from "Sigh No More" could only have been a bad move considering the popularity and critical acclaim that the album received. The use of instrumental crescendo on the album gets the music across so powerfully and really stands out. When you hear the mixture of violin, guitar, trumpet, trombone, fiddle and vocals you really get to feel what you're listening to and every track on "Babel" makes for a truly great listening experience.


The debut single from the album "I will wait" is a track that I'm pretty sure everyone has heard by now, but surprisingly it's not the best track on the album. The title track "Babel" is a song that in my opinion should have been the debut single.

My stand out track on the album is "Lovers Eyes" one of the only tracks on the album which is really heavy on vocals. It has a slower tempo that every other track but when you get to around 2 minutes you hear the tempo pick up. You can hear all the elements that make Mumford and Sons great but just at a slower pace. 

I can't believe that I'm only just getting around to listening to this album, it really was worth the 3 year wait. "Babel" will be one album that will keep coming out of my collection and into my Sound System for a good few years.



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