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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.
087
MUSIC
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 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.
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 available now
via Dew Process/ Universal.
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.