Slightly more folk and slightly less indie-pop than Noah and the Whale, Mumford & Sons came onto the music scene after backing folk artist, Laura Marling. Their debut album, Sigh No More, the name extracted from Shakespeare's romantically charged play, ""Much Ado About Nothing,"" is a whirlwind of romantic regret and confession. The overarching theme of the album is an unabashed declaration of repentance toward a past lover. This theme may seem cliché, but Marcus Mumford makes it appealing both through his clever analogies and his rough, howling voice. Mumford draws on two main sources for his lyrics: religion and farming.
The album begins, ""Serve God love me and men"" from the title track. The ""Sigh No More"" theme continues throughout, usually relaing religious apathy to romantic apathy. The slightly more novel, pastoral theme appears in ""Dust Bowl Dance"" and ""The Cave,"" referring to ""barren land"" and ""the harvest,"" respectively. Farming, religion and the band's old-timey hardware store owner name, all combine to create the ideal rustic folk aesthetic the band is proud to represent.
This four-piece band reflects a surge of folk obsession in the indie music world, driving hipsters to hypothetically join in barn dances and jump into jigs while holding jugs labeled ""XXX."" Mumford & Sons' foot-stamping music blends folk and rock music, effectively making folk music more accessible as a genre, illustrated in the outstanding popularity of Mumford's single ""Little Lion Man."" Mumford & Sons draw away from folk music on a couple of tracks by evading the bare bones instrumental nature of classic folk music. There is a hint of Beirut's grandiose brass instrumental music on the delightfully infectious track ""Winter Winds,"" which is somewhat a splice of The Decemberists and Beirut. However, they also embrace the folk genre with the aptly named Country Winston, shredding on his banjo in ""The Cave"" and ""White Blank Page.""
Virtually every track on the album includes swelling crescendos and soothing lulls of musical power, reminiscent of Arcade Fire. Ironically, the band failed to apply this musical ebb and flow to the structure of the album. The album has no troughs or crests—it is static. Granted, it is at least stable at a point above average, but it fails to progress throughout. Although there is no weak track on the entire album, there is also no variety.It's as if they mastered this specific form and are unable to deviate, leaving the album repetitive and predictable. Each track taken on its own is very impressive, but after a couple of tracks it feels like you have listened to the same song over and over again, and you say to yourself, ""What is this, Jack Johnson?""
Mumford & Sons are coming at an opportune time for their genre, and granted some ingenuity with their song structure, some growth in Marcus Mumford's storytelling abilities, and using a harmnonica. I foresee big things for these four twenty-something kids from London.
