Mumford & Sons have played their way to platinum success and straight into all of our hearts. After releasing their first album "Sigh No More," an album branded by songs like "The Cave" and "Little Lion Man" in February 2010, this English folk-rock band surpassed all expectations, taking the world by storm and receiving two Grammy award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Rock Song.
A catchy, foot-stomping sound with country-inspired melodies and a signature pounding melodic strumming pattern, Mumford & Sons continue to step up their game with the wildly popular second studio album, "Babel."
Selling 600,000 albums in its first week, "Babel" has been the biggest-selling debut of any album in 2012 thus far, blowing minds with the rhythmic hoots and hollers, the powerful collective use of bluegrass and folk instrumentation. With their first single, "I Will Wait," Mumford & Sons raised the bar without changing too much, sticking to their guns with a hymn-like dynamic, shifting drastically from soft and loud riffs in a majority of their songs. The banjo continues to be an accessory to the hearty, folk inspired tone, their melodies never ceasing to infuse themselves within our brains.
The haunting, soul-filled voice of lead singer Marcus Mumford accentuates the group's ability to write songs with a pure, fragile honesty that most artists try to capture, but usually can't perfect. Mumford's sound is a beautifully gritty, powerful tone that can take you under a gentle spell or demand your attention. A down-home, sing-along stomp that instantly gives you an unconquerable feeling, "Babel" has all the characteristics of "Sigh No More" with a little more zing to it. While the band stayed mostly within its comfort zone, songs such as "Broken Crown" add a little more instrumental variety with an electric guitar and drums, a sound that might be considered foreign, but that really works.
The album explores the many facets of a relationship with deep, crooning ballads such as "Reminder" and "Lover's Eyes," which both possess a sweet, tortured sadness, or uppity, foot-stomping anthems that supersize and complicate love stories with biblical references in songs such as "Broken Crown" and "Babel." Starting off gently, with only Mumford and his guitar, nearly every song builds up until the entire thing turns into an explosion of banjo, bass, keys and vocals.
While it's hard to fault a band for sticking to what worked so well the first time, it would have been nice to find a little bit more variety this time around. It's difficult at times to differentiate songs because the strumming patterns stay so similar. I'm not complaining though, because their sound is so incredibly authentic, a pure and unyielding beauty that vibrates with every pluck of the banjo, every harsh strum of the guitar.
"Babel" offers an irresistible combination of unyielding passion and poetry, an album with an earthy, triumphant vibe that takes you to your happy place. If you haven't picked up your copy yet, I suggest you do, because you'll be happy you did.
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