English folk rock heroes Mumford and Sons change it up a lot on their third album, Wilder Mind.
The group ditched the banjo and kick drum for electric guitar and a drum kit and switched producers (James Ford for Markus Dravs).
It might get loud, but it doesn’t. Just slightly louder and that’s the problem. They don’t rock with abandon. They sound contemporary and pop.
Marcus Mumford’s voice is resonant enough to fill the songs with a sense of importance and drama and one listen to Believe makes it clear that the quartet is going to hit the stadium rock trail. It’s too bad that music is awful in those arenas.
While Mumford and Sons keeps its keening nu-folk harmonic buzzing along, they’ve opted out to sound generic and less identifiable.
Tompkins Square Park and Only Love evoke the grandeur of U2 and Coldplay. That’s logical considering the band’s background, but it’s disappointing that Just Smoke recalls the cuddly blandness of The Dave Matthews Band.
Their dynamic sense is used theatrically in Broad Shouldered Beasts, a grandiose love song that sounds standard.
Things would have turned out much differently had Mumford and Sons chosen to unleash some electric fury. Acoustic folkies have done it before with great results. There’s a sense of industry standard on Wilder Mind.
On Monster, Mumford uses the F bomb to lame effect. It’s a cliché that wrecks the beauty of tracks like Ditmas. From folk rock to condominium rock, North American arenas beckon the boys from London.
– Dean Gordon-Smith is a Vernon-based musician who reviews new music releases for The Morning Star.
