Sunday 16 May 2010

Mumford and Sons



Do you get that thing where you hear a snatch of song on the radio, something you've never heard before - and you have to stop dead in your tracks and listen, wide-eyed? That happened to me this week, with the song above. I listened, I looked 'em up on Youtube, I rushed into town and bought the CD Sigh No More - and I've been playing it obsessively all week.

And lo it turned out, Mumford & Sons were at No.3 in the charts when I bought their CD. This is a folk group, mind. It must be a cold day in Hell indeed, when a folk group has its very first album in the Top 5!

What are they like? "Coldplay does folk" someone said. A lot of bluegrass, a lot of Simon and Garfunkel, a bit of Dylan. Their vocabulary is strongly Christian, so I'm guessing they come out of a Church background, but the feel of the album Sigh No More is not any sort of Christian triumphalism, but pessimistic and angst-ridden: there is a vein of self-recrimination through the lyrics that borders on the genuinely worrying. Like, what has he done?

Love it, love, love it. Would kill to hear them live.
*froth*

And now I wander round the supermarket singing

It was not your fault but mine
And it was your heart on the line
I really fucked it up this time
Didn't I, my dear?
(Dingley dingley dingly, banjo bit)

7 comments:

Vida said...

Ah, this makes sense. I hear their single on the radio a lot, and I feel drawn to it against my will, like I want to sing along and I want to turn it off.

The one that goes 'And IIIIIIIIIIIII, will bahblahblah, and IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will blahblahblah.' if you know what I mean :)

Kat Black said...

It's that killer banjo I find so hard to resist.

@ Vida - nice singing! It's called The Cave. Soooo addictive, don't bother trying to fight it.

Janine Ashbless said...

Yes, Vida - I know exactly what you mean, because I woke up with those exact lyrics going through my head the day after buying the CD. Resistance is useless!
:-D

Oh, and they were using one of the tracks as background music on Countryfile tonight. There is no escape even when watching TV.

Jo said...

Ehem. I didn't mean to comment as Vida earlier, I'm just challenged by all the signing in and out.

So is the Cave Plato or Christian, then? :)

Janine Ashbless said...

Jo, you have more aliases than a spy!

Craig Sorensen said...

That music is awesome! It's got a little Celtic flair mixed in with that funky folk. Great freaking lyrics. Very catchy tunes.

And yes, that banjo is killer.

Great stuff!

Janine Ashbless said...

Yay! Spread the word!
:-)