STACK#127 May 2016

MUSIC

Wilder Mind’s Wildest Moments Tompkins Square Park The album opener immediately says 'Forget the inoffensive Mumford nu-folk signatures and all that’s come with them'; this upbeat attempt at radio has the guy leaving the girl with heavy heart full of regret, in the picturesque surrounds of a Greenwich Village park. “Oh babe/meet me in Tompkins Square Park/ I want to hold you in the dark one last time… I only ever told you one lie, when it could have been 1,000." Wilder Mind The album’s title track comes enveloped in regret and hardly notice them, as Mumford gently reminds the subject that "You can be every little thing you want nobody to know.“ Broad Shouldered Beasts This is the thrilling slow burner with the big build up. A beguiling guitar figure opens proceedings, as Mumford sings that reflection, a smoky and subdued mood swathed in delicate drums and guitars so wound back you’ll

We’re always trying to impress each other. It’s hard to push a song through in this band because four people attack it – we’ve each got 100 ideas.

Express wherein upon arriving at a small east coast seaside hamlet, the band discover a fan who’s decked out his entire house with ‘Welcome Mumford and Sons’ signs and messages. “We go to places lots of bands don’t go, outside the major cities,“ says Marshall. “Even if [people have] never heard your band, sometimes they don’t even like your band – but there’s a band in town, which means they’ll be like ‘We’re going! Everyone’s going.’ Those places are great because if you can win over those crowds – that’s a hard crowd to impress – you can win over anyone, can’t you?” Whether Wilder Mind wins over the wider world as debut Sigh No Mor e did remains to be seen, but whatever happens, you can be certain The Mumfords have given this album all they’ve got – because they always do.

not to be influenced by it. It’s ever-changing in its character – you walk three blocks and it’s a whole new world. It’s a beast that you can never master.“ But what about the brass tacks of band life, the reality of being in a room, trying to create something for a global audience that expects a certain Mumford and Sons sound? After endless touring and several years in each others' pockets, surely there’s no pussyfooting around in The Mumfords camp? “No one needs to say anything to know whether they don’t like it; you can see on their face,“ confirms Marshall. “I think the difference is now, 'What do I need to do to improve it, to make him like it?' We’re always trying to impress each other. It’s hard to push a song through in this band because four people attack it – there’s four of us, right, so we’ve each got 100 ideas.“ Wilder Mind has a great deal more co-writing as well: the band members have finished off one another’s songs, rather than bringing them in as finished pieces to present to the others. But no matter how things evolve within Mumford and Sons, their fanbase seems committed and ready to go that extra mile. Just check out the scene in Big Easy

“Manhattan/ beams at the night” while delving into remembered fragments of a past relationship. Ditmas Here’s another New York song (Ditmas is an area of the NYC borough of Brooklyn). Drums aren’t thudding and thunderous, but they certainly grandly lead the way here. One of Wilder Mind ’s more anthemic moments will be ‘the one’ fans wait for at live shows once the album’s done the rounds.

Wilder Mind is available now via Dew Process/ Universal.

The Adventures of Salvador Dali Parton Winston Marshall is firmly of the view that there’s room for other musical activity outside Mumford and Sons – but no one ever said it had to be super serious. In 2013, Marshall, Jake Orrall of Jeff the Brotherhood, Justin Hayward-Young of TheVaccines and Gill Landry of Old Crow Medicine Show (whom Marshall had encountered on the Big Easy Express adventure) formed a one-off band they dubbed Salvador Dali Parton.They wrote six songs in a day, rehearsed once, and played six gigs in one night around Nashville. And Marshall is well up for the challenge – in fact he’s got another sideline act up and ready. “It’s called the Anal Beatles, an equally terrible name for a band.,“ he laughs. “We did five gigs in five venues in a night, five songs… I’d like to get out of America. I quite like the idea of Berlin maybe. And, it doesn’t matter, it’s for whoever’s up for it!"

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