Wilder Mind

Rock/Folk: Wilder Mind
Music: Mumford & Sons,
Label: Island Records
Rock/Folk: The third album by Mumford & Sons sees them trying to put some distance between the sound that fans and critics have identified them by in the past. For a band that has shifted around 7 million records in the US and taken home a Grammy for Album Of The Year (2012’s Babel), that can be a bit of a risky move.For those familiar with their quiet-loud verse-chorus dynamics, this has been underplayed somewhat with a preference instead towards more electric guitars and even synths. This is a move that can pretty much alienate their older fedora-wearing hipster fanbase but as any band that has survived the test of time, making at least an attempt to incorporate new sounds is always a smart thing. Here, Mumford & Sons cautiously dip their feet in the pond of innovation, so to speak. While the album is melodic, it is also mid-tempo in a manner not unlike Toad The Wet Sprocket’s later albums. Believe sounds like something you’d get if you put U2 and Coldplay in one room and asked them to make a song. Even the thin guitar sound sounds like The Edge’s economical style. Only Love has quite an interesting and lengthy coda, The Wolf has some tight hooks while Tompkins Square Park aims for post-punk rock band energy. Ditmas sounds like a break-up ditty and Just Smoke can safely be skipped. Worth it if you’re a fan of the group