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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
reflection, a smoky and subdued
mood swathed in delicate drums
and guitars so wound back you’ll
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
“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.
New York and it’s hard 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
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 More 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.
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!"
Wilder Mind is out
May 1
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.
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MUSIC FEATURE