May
On Marcus Mumford’s involvement in upcoming Coen Brothers’ film, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
From Variety.com:
Saturday 18, May 2013
Scott Foundas/@foundsonfilm
The sounds of the early 1960s folk music revival float on the air like a strange, intoxicating perfume in the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis,” a boldly original, highly emotional journey through Greenwich Village nightclubs, a bleak New York winter, and one man’s fraught efforts to reconcile his life and his art. A product of the same deeply personal end of the Coens’ filmmaking spectrum previously responsible for the likes of “Barton Fink” and “A Serious Man,” this darkly comic musical drama with an elliptical narrative and often brusque protagonist won’t corral the same mass audience as “No Country for Old Men” and “True Grit.” But strong reviews — for the pic itself and its stupendous soundtrack — should make this December release an awards-season success for distrib CBS Films.
As they did with the 1940s Hollywood setting of “Barton Fink,” the Coens have again taken a real time and place and freely made it their own, drawing on actual persons and events for inspiration, but binding themselves only to their own bountiful imaginations. The result is a movie that neatly avoids the problems endemic to most period movies — and biopics in particular — in favor of a playful, evocatively subjective reality. Perhaps most surprising to some viewers will be the pic’s surfeit of something the Coens have sometimes been accused of lacking: deep, heartfelt sincerity.
Where Clifford Odets provided the inspiration for “Fink’s” eponymous playwright, Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) has been similarly modeled on the late Dave Van Ronk, a mainstay of the ’60s New York folk revival whose vaunted reputation among musicians never translated into the commercial success enjoyed by many of his contemporaries. Like Van Ronk, the pic’s Davis is a guitar-strumming balladeer whose repertoire consists mostly of vintage American roots music of the sort catalogued by musicologists John and Alan Lomax as they traversed the southern U.S. One such tune, the haunting “Dink’s Song” (aka “Fare Thee Well”) becomes the pic’s melancholy refrain in a version purportedly cut by Davis and his former partner, Mike (British musician Marcus Mumford), before the latter’s suicide rendered Llewyn a solo act…
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Click here to read the rest of the article on Variety.com.
Below is an exclusive video of Oscar Isaac and Marcus Mumford performing “Dink’s Song” live at Caffe Vivaldi in New York City on January 10, 2012 (click here for a rebloggable version).
Feb
Submitted by Ian Doreian/Music Savage
By all accounts, it was a sell-out night for Mumford and Sons in Boston on February 5th. This was the opening show of an improbable North American arena tour, and these champions of folk rock buoyed the adoring crowd with an empathetic sing-a-long. There wasn’t a body unswayed by well-plucked choruses, or a lens wide enough to capture the sprawling array of guitar, ukulele, upright bass, banjo, accordion, drums, and horn section. Truly, it was a joy-filled night to celebrate the music and success of Mumford.
Click to visit Music Savage and see more photos from the show!
Sep
Mumford & Sons' 'Babel' Selling Huge, Heading for No. 1
From Billboard.com
by Keith Caulfield, L.A. | September 26, 2012 5:10 EDT
Mumford & Sons is heading for a massive week. The rock quartet’s new album Babel is on course to sell as much as 600,000 copies by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, Sept. 30 — so say industry sources. The set, released yesterday (Sept. 25), will easily debut atop the Billboard 200 next week, giving the band its first chart-topper.
The new Billboard 200 chart’s top 10 will be revealed on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 3.
Babel’s forecasted sales should give the band the biggest debut week this year, surpassing Justin Bieber’s Believe launch with 374,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan. Mumford & Sons will also tally the largest sales frame for any rock album (debut or otherwise) since AC/DC’s Black Ice stormed in with 784,000 at No. 1 on the Nov. 8, 2008 chart.
Further, Babel, released on Gentlemen of the Road through Glassnote Records, will nab the largest sales week ever for RED Distribution and the first No. 1 for Glassnote. RED — which is Sony’s indie distribution arm — saw its previous highest week when Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s 1997 album The Art of War (Ruthless/Relativity) sell 394,000 in its debut at No. 1.
Babel’s digital sales are through the roof, according to sources. It will likely lock in the second-largest sales week ever for a digital album, as it could sell more than 400,000 downloads. The biggest digital week ever for a set belongs to Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which moved 662,000 downloads in its first week. (A chunk of that figure was driven by Amazon MP3’s sale pricing of the set at 99-cents for two days during release week.)
Babel is Mumford & Sons’ second studio album, and follows 2010’s Sigh No More. The latter has sold 2.5 million in the U.S. according to SoundScan and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The new album’s lead single, “I Will Wait,” is bulleted at No. 2 — its so far peak — on the Alternative Songs chart. The tune debuted and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August…
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Click through to read the rest of the article.
Click here to preview all the tracks on Babel.
Sep
RollingStone: Mumford & Sons Save the Day on 'SNL'
From RollingStone.com:
By Logan Nicklaus
September 23, 2012 11:20 AM ET
…The highlights of last night’s episode came despite its host – starting with Mumford & Sons. The crowd-pleasing nü-Bluegrass group stood like pillars, side by side at the front of the stage, and intertwined their harmonies beautifully. Backed by a horn section for “I Will Wait,” they brought a terrific spirit to Studio 8H – a hoedown meets Dave Matthews Band. Their second performance of the night, “Below My Feet,” highlighted lead singer Marcus Mumford doing his best impression of Dick Van Dyke’s one-man-band from Mary Poppins: singing, playing the bass drum using one foot, tambourine with the other foot, and quite capably strumming his acoustic guitar, all at the same time.
…The writers did Gordon-Levitt no favors by putting him in a retread sketch, done countless times, sitting in a bar alongside Jason Sudeikis, Keenan Thompson, and Bill Hader. The best buddies tell their most embarrassing and personal stories, before swinging their beers and joining in the chorus of the Beatles’ “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.” It was essentially a cover sketch – a tribute, sure, but just a knock-off of the original.
The saving grace of this sketch, much like the episode itself: Mumford & Sons, who played the Beatles cover band, Hey Dude.
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Click through to read the rest of the article on RollingStone.com.
Click here to watch videos of Mumford & Sons’ performances on the September 22nd episode of Saturday Night Live, including their appearance as Beatles cover band, Hey Dude.
Aug
Mumford & Sons, 'Babel' - First Listen
August 8, 2012, 1:10:12 pm
By Ailbhe Malone
Photo © Rebecca Miller
from NME.com:
The waistcoat-loving quartet are back with second album ‘Babel’, and it’s classic Mumford. Released on 24 September, and produced by ‘Sigh No More’s Marcus Dravs, there’s been no huge stylistic changes. Expect big choruses, big vocals, and a lot of banjo. Read on for our track-by-track, first-listen response - and look out for the full review in an upcoming issue of the mag.
“Babel”
Opening with a blistering banjo intro, the title track is a statement of intent. Marcus Mumford spits, “I know my weakness, know my voice. And I believe in grace and choice’”. As the chorus hits, the biblical allusions that inspired the album title kick in.
Like the city that nurtured my greed and my pride, I stretch my arms into the sky. I cry ‘Babel, Babel, look at me now’, and the walls of my town they come tumbling down.
”Whispers in the Dark”
A gentle beginning, before a bass drum kicks in with some unusual rhythms. ”Whispers in the dark, steal a kiss, you’ll break a heart’ sings Marcus. It’s a wave to the road, a hat-tip - a kind of ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright’ via Shepherd’s Bush. Ends joyfully - “We must live while we are young”.
“I Will Wait”
The new single fits in well in the track-listing. Keyboard player Ben Lovett joking described it as “the worst track on the record - we just thought we’d get it out.” Don’t worry, he’s not being serious. Read our review
“Holland Road”
“With your heart like a stone, you spared no time in lashing out”. Both mournful and hopeful at the same time, the optimism takes over near the end, as the track closes with a repeated cry of “I still believe” over soothing ‘ah’s.
“Ghosts That We Knew”
Opening line “You saw my pain, washed out in the rain” is not Mumford And Sons’ best lyrical moment, but the track sweetly takes on a spiritual/gospel feel, featuring the killer line: “Give me hope in the darkness so I can see the light”.
“Lover of the Light”
Optimistic, folky. Banjo takes a back seat. Featuring the most rousing chorus on the entire album, it’s destined to be a live highlight, and builds to a bombastic conclusion, accented with horns:
Love the one you hold, and I’ll be your goal, to have and to hold, the lover of the light.
“Lovers’ Eyes”
There’s a mix in instrumentation - horns and brass make an appearance beneath a banjo riff. The tone is sombre but proud, with Marcus Mumford reflecting on the breakdown of a relationship. “I walk slow, take my hand, help me on my way.”
“Reminder”
More of an interlude than a track. Opens with a solo vocal: “Don’t let me darken your door, it’s not what I came here for”, then a spoken, “No, it’s not what I came here for”. The delivery is restrained, like a folk singer in a pub. Segues into the next track after two minutes.
“Hopeless Wanderer”
Over five minutes long, this one’s epic. Opens as piano-led torch song: ”You heard my voice, I came out of the woods by choice” to “I will call you by name, I will share your road” into up-tempo classic Mumford. “You brought me out from the cold, how I long to grow old”.
“Broken Crown”
Darker than the other tracks so far. “I will not speak of your sins”. There’s a kind of Russian folk song beat, with Marcus howling,“Crawl on my belly until the sun goes down, I’ll never wear your broken crown”. It’s the best, most visceral track yet.
“Below My Feet”
Opens with a pretty banjo riff and classic Mumford harmonies: “Keep the earth below my feet, from my sweat my blood runs weak”. It’s an ode to keeping your feet on the ground - more than likely inspired by the whirlwind year the group have just had.
“Not With Haste”
With a chorus of “We’ll be who we are, and they’ll heal our scars/Sadness will be far away”, this is as close to a ‘haters gonna hate’ sentiment as Mumfords are going to write. That said, it’s still hearty, upbeat and rousing to the end. No downers here.
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NME.COM blogs contain the opinions of the individual writer and not necessarily those of NME magazine or NME.COM.
Click through for more information about ‘Babel’ and its upcoming release.
Mar
Tennessee Journalist reviews the Mumford & Sons show on March 7, 2012 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. Saying,”The humble band showed their appreciation to their fans with many thanks. Interaction and subtle humor, including much sarcasm, kept the fans excited and laughing. In addition to these elements, the raw and relatable lyrics visually and audibly expressed the passion behind the music for the band members.”
Dec
Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons performs at KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas on December 11, 2011.
Photo copyright Andrew Youssef for OC Weekly Blog. Here’s a snippet from Andrew’s review:
Personal Bias: The line up was ridiculously good.
Random Notebook Dump: Marcus Mumford’s guitar had a tag saying “Mary Kate.” Does that mean his other guitar is “Ashley”?
Why yes, Andrew. Yes it does. And Marcus explains why in this video.
Dec
From the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Live Blog:
“In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die/Where you invest your love, you invest your life,” the talented, ever poetic Marcus Mumford sings plaintively in “Awake My Soul.” The 24-year-old London folk singer evokes a sense of westernized Americana that might seem contradictory to his British roots, but in fact, the Mumford of Mumford and Sons was born in Southern California–right down the street in Anaheim.
And it seems that locals love this almost “local” band intensely; most of the audience was mouthing the lyrics to most of their songs in perfect synchronicity. With their multi-instrumental talent, Mumford & Sons are true musical talents and it’s hard not to watch them play banjo, kickdrum, or blaring away on a harmonica all at the same time. It’s also hard not to sing-a-long to their infectious songs like “Roll Away Your Stone” (during which Mumford’s strings broke–three times), “Awake My Soul,” “White Blank Page,” “The Cave,” or “Little Lion Man.”
Mumford & Sons said that this is their last show of the year and they are going to spend time with their families for Christmas. They are also working on completing their upcoming album which included the song “Lover Of The Light,” a song infused with a more soulful sound.
Perhaps inspired by the popularity of that one (the audience seemed to know that song as well, despite its newness), Mumford & Sons also played another new song called “Ghosts That We Knew.” A moody love song, the silent moments let hordes of girls scream things like “I love you” and “I want your baby.” We do believe that he is taken by the graceful young ingenue, Carey Mulligan, girls.
But, in those intimate musical moments, Mumford lets us pretend that his unabashed romantic sentiments are for us alone.
Dec
Mumford & Sons Portland Concert Review
Quote: “It’s really remarkable just how Mumford & Sons can turn an album full of depressing, hurting, and angry songs into a 15,000-strong sing-along. It was cathartic and exciting, empowering and inspiring. It was one of the more fun concerts I’ve seen in a long time, and — much like I felt after that first date — I can’t wait to see them again.”
[EDIT]: Be sure to read the one response below the review as well…
So good. So true. So accurate. So worth reading.
Nov
Nov
Nov
via TwentyFourBit
“No sophomore slump is in sight.” Accurate.
Oct
Raving Review of the Mumford gig in Hamilton
Best part:
“Ben Lovett (keyboards) rocked out so hard that he knocked over his microphone with his own head.”
Oct
Mumford & Sons in Montreal: A Review
Un prestation digne d’un succès mérité
(A performance worthy of well-deserved success)
MONTRÉAL - Après deux concerts montréalais à guichets fermés l’an dernier, le groupe britannique Mumford and Sons a offert une prestation digne de leur récente vague de succès, jeudi soir, dans le cadre de leur premier passage au Centre Bell.
«Cette salle semble trop grande pour nous […], mais ce n’est pas grave, nous allons faire le “party” ce soir», a lancé d’entrée de jeu le chanteur Marcus Mumford.
Avant les quelques premières minutes du spectacle, une énergie rare se sentait dans l’amphithéâtre. Lorsque le chanteur a prononcéLover’s Eyes et que les lumières ont jailli sur la foule, les quelque 10 500 spectateurs étaient debout, déjà conquis.
La carrière de Marcus Mumford et de ses trois compagnons - qui ne sont pas ses fils véritables -, a connu un essor considérable au cours de la dernière année. Difficile de comprendre ce succès foudroyant, considérant qu’ils n’ont pas sorti de nouvel album depuisSigh no more, paru en 2009.
Le quatuor multi-instrumental a offert plusieurs extraits de leur prochain album, prévu pour février 2012.
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MONTREAL - After two sold out concerts in Montreal last year, the British band Mumford and Sons gave a performance worthy of their recent wave of success on Thursday night as part of their first pass at the Bell Centre.
”The room seems too big for us […] but it’s not bad. We’re going to have a party, tonight,” said lead singer Marcus Mumford at the beginning of the concert.
Before the first few minutes of the show, a rare energy was felt throughout the amphitheater. When the singer began Lover’s Eyes and the lights sprang on into the crowd, the approximately 10,500 standing spectators were already conquered.
The career of Marcus Mumford and his three companions—not his real sons—has grown considerably over the past year. It’s difficult to understand this storm, considering they have not made a new album since Sigh No More, released in 2009.
The multi-instrumental quartet offered several excerpts from their upcoming album, scheduled for February 2012.
Oct
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