Mumford & Sons have released four studio albums: Sigh No More (2009), Babel (2012), Wilder Mind (2015), and Delta (2018). Sigh No More peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and the Billboard 200 in the US, with Babel and Wilder Mind both debuting at number one in the UK and US, the former becoming the fastest-selling rock album of the decade and leading to a headline performance at Glastonbury Festival in 2013. The band has also issued two live albums: Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire (2011) and The Road to Red Rocks (2012).
Mumford & Sons were formed in December 2007 by multi-instrumentalists Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane. Band members play acoustic guitar, drums, keyboard instruments, bass guitar, and traditional folk instruments such as banjo, mandolin and resonator guitar. The band name originates from the fact that Marcus Mumford was the most visible member, organizing the band and their performances. Lovett indicated that the name was meant to invoke the sense of an "antiquated family business name".
A handful of similar bands were increasing their visibility in West London around the same time, giving rise to the label "West London folk scene". Mumford downplays that characterisation as an exaggeration—Mumford & Sons and a few other folk acts just happened to be operating in the same general area at the time. In an interview with the Herald Sun, Marcus Mumford said, "It's not folk really. Well, some of it is, and it's certainly not a scene. Someone got over-excited about a few bands who live in a hundred-mile radius and put it in a box to sell it as a package. It's a community, not a scene. It's not exclusive." Having developed in the same musical and cultural environment, Mumford & Sons' sound has been compared to that of artists such as Noah and the Whale, Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling, whose backing band had included Marshall, Mumford, and Dwane.
In early 2008 the band began working with manager Adam Tudhope, who, as part of management company Everybody's, also represents Keane and Laura Marling. It was through Tudhope's connection that Mumford & Sons were exposed to their future A&R at Island, Louis Bloom, who began monitoring the band. Bloom told HitQuarters that they were still at a fledgling state and not yet ready for a label deal: "There was no one there for it, just a few friends, and they needed time to develop. Over the next six months I kept going to see them and they were literally picking up fans every time."
In February 2008, the band completed an extensive UK tour with support from Alessi's Ark, Sons of Noel and Adrian, Peggy Sue and others. June 2008 marked the band's first appearance at the Glastonbury Festival. They also toured Australia with Laura Marling, whose disinclination to interact with audiences encouraged Mumford into the spotlight. The experience helped inform his attitude towards Mumford & Sons audiences, which is to interact frequently and to try to create a comfortable, casual atmosphere. Mumford & Sons' first project was an EP entitled Love Your Ground which took a year to complete and was released in November 2008 on Chess Club Records.
The band began by using bluegrass and folk instrumentation, with the core instruments of acoustic guitar, banjo, piano and a double bass, played with a rhythmic style based in alternative rock and folk. In the documentary Big Easy Express, Marcus Mumford recognizes the Old Crow Medicine Show influence: "I first heard Old Crow’s music when I was, like, 16, 17, and that really got me into, like, folk music, bluegrass. I mean, I’d listened to a lot of Dylan, but I hadn’t really ventured into the country world so much. So Old Crow were the band that made me fall in love with country music." Mumford acknowledges that "the band inspired them to pick up the banjo and start their now famous country nights in London." Ketch Secor, Old Crow front-man, concurs: "Those boys took the message and ran with it.
Much of Mumford & Sons' lyrical content has a strong literary influence, its debut album name deriving from William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The track "Sigh No More" includes lines from the play such as Serve God love me and mend, For man is a giddy thing, and One foot in sea and one on shore. The title of the song "Roll Away Your Stone" is an allusion to Macbeth; the song includes the line Stars hide your fires/ And these here are my desires which borrows and pares down Macbeth's line in act 1, scene 4: Stars, hide your fires,/ Let not light see my black and deep desires. Additionally, "The Cave" includes several references to The Odyssey, in particular the sirens that Odysseus encounters on his journey home. The song also contains many references to G.K. Chesterton's book, St. Francis of Assisi, in which Chesterton uses Plato's Cave as a way of explaining how St. Francis views the world from God's perspective. "Little Lion Man" appears to be a retelling in dramatic monologue form of Chretien de Troyes' Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, which is the story of a knight who goes mad after betraying a promise to his wife to return to her. Both "Timshel" and "Dust Bowl Dance" draw heavily from the John Steinbeck novels Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath.
The band's change in sound on their third album was described by Lovett as a "natural departure." At the end of the Babel tour Winston Marshall traded his banjo for electric guitar in sound checks and Mumford started playing more drums as the band jammed on heavy instrumentals and even some Radiohead tunes. Banjo does not feature on the record, an instrument that had become synonymous with the band. NME reported that the band's sound is "More expansive than ever and decidedly heavier, thanks to the shift in instrumentation." The group also employed a full drumkit instead of kick drum. "We've had our standard line-up of instruments for the last six years and we felt like that was our palette, [but] we started picking up other stuff," said Lovett. "It's a very natural departure from some of that rootsier stuff."
Lovett told NME that working with James Ford for Wilder Mind was part of trying something new. "We felt a need for change. Not from Markus [Dravs], but he was so closely attached to those first two records that as we had taken that time off, we wanted to try doing something new. It felt like, if we do our third record with Markus, does that mean we do our ninth and 10th records with Markus? At some point you have to try different things, as we collectively felt like it was time to try other stuff. Markus knows that we might well make the next record with him. We definitely haven't broken up [with Dravs], we're just playing the field!".
The band have won a number of music awards throughout their career, with Sigh No More earning the band the Brit Award for Best British Album in 2011 and six overall Grammy Award nominations. The live performance at the 2011 Grammy ceremony with Bob Dylan and The Avett Brothers led to a surge in popularity for the band in the US. The band received eight total Grammy nominations for Babel and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The band also won the Brit Award for Best British Group in 2013.
Broad-Shouldered Beasts
Mumford & Sons Lyrics
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Manhattan beats at the night
But you are wrapped up in wire
Curled up in fright
So I took you to the city for the night
To dance under dizzy silver lights
But for a moment, you were wild
But wasn't it you who said I was not free
And wasn't it you who said I needed peace
And now it's you who's floored by fear of it all
And it's alright
Take it out on me
And it's alright
Take it out on me
These apartment walls are paper thin
And no one is trying to listen in
What to hear our doubts
Hear our whispered shouts, they don't care
Wasn't it you who said I was not free
Wasn't it you who said I needed peace
And now it's you who's floored by fear of it all
And it's alright
Take it out on me
And it's alright
Take it out on me
But when you feel the world wrapping 'round your neck
Feel my hand 'round yours
And when you feel the world wrapping 'round your neck
Don't succumb
But it's alright
Take it out on me
And it's alright
Take it out on me
And it's alright
Take it out on me
The lyrics of "Broad-Shouldered Beasts" by Mumford & Sons express the complexities of a romantic relationship that is marred by fear and insecurity. The song begins by painting a picture of the grandeur and chaos of Manhattan, represented by the broad-shouldered beasts that fill the sky and the rhythmic beating of the city at night. The singer's lover, however, is not moved by the excitement of the city but is instead consumed by fear, wrapped up in wire and curled up in fright. In an attempt to break them out of their fear, the singer takes them to the city to dance under dizzy silver lights, and they experience a moment of wild abandon.
However, despite this brief moment of freedom, the underlying fear and insecurity within the relationship persist. The singer questions his lover, reminding them that it was they who once claimed that he was not free and needed peace, and now they are the ones who are "floored by fear of it all." It is important to note that the use of "it" is left open to interpretation: it could refer to their relationship or the uncertainties of the wider world around them. Nevertheless, the singer is willing to weather the emotional storm and offers to be a punching bag for their fear and anger. The song ends with the reassuring assertion that the singer will always be there for their lover, holding their hand as the world threatens to swallow them.
Line by Line Meaning
Broad-shouldered beasts fill the sky
The city is bustling with activity and buildings seem monstrous
Manhattan beats at the night
The sounds of the city at night are strong and overpowering
But you are wrapped up in wire
You are trapped in your own fears and anxieties
Curled up in fright
You are scared and vulnerable
So I took you to the city for the night
I wanted to show you the excitement and beauty of the city
To dance under dizzy silver lights
To experience the nightlife and be swept up in the energy of the city
But for a moment, you were wild
You were able to let go and be free for a brief moment
With abandon like a child, just a moment
You let go of your fears and worries and acted carefree, even if only for a moment
But wasn't it you who said I was not free
You previously criticized me for not being free
And wasn't it you who said I needed peace
You suggested that I needed to find inner peace
And now it's you who's floored by fear of it all
You are overwhelmed by your own fears and anxieties
And it's alright
It's okay
Take it out on me
You can use me as a sounding board or release your emotions towards me
These apartment walls are paper thin
The walls are thin and don't provide much privacy
And no one is trying to listen in
No one is intentionally eavesdropping on our conversation
What to hear our doubts
No one cares to hear our concerns and worries
Hear our whispered shouts, they don't care
Even if we were to vocalize our concerns, no one would listen or care
But when you feel the world wrapping 'round your neck
When you feel overwhelmed and weighed down by the world
Feel my hand 'round yours
I will be there to support and comfort you
And when you feel the world wrapping 'round your neck
When you feel overwhelmed and weighed down by the world
Don't succumb
Don't give up, don't let the world defeat you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BENJAMIN WALTER DAVID LOVETT, EDWARD JAMES MILTON DWANE, MARCUS OLIVER JOHNSTONE MUMFORD, WINSTON AUBREY ALADAR MARSHALL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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