mumford and sons - interview

[dew process: 2009]
London band Mumford & Sons have spent the first 18 months of their brief and youthful career touring like mad, and they are about to embark on another enormous list of dates - including a stop in at Australia's Laneway Festival, a jaunt at some of America's major cities, and then several shows throughout the UK. Just prior to the release of their debut record Sigh No More, Album of The Week spoke to the band's double bass player, Ted Dwane. Ted, whose sister currently lives in the home city of Album of The Week where they'll be kicking off their Australian dates at Laneway, told us how the band formed, the effortless recording process for the album, and his 'bi-curious' urges toward fellow band member, Winston.

It's no secret: Mumford & Sons have been one of the big discoveries of 2009. Their debut album, Sigh No More, has received its share of critical praise, but, to a far greater extent, an overwhelmingly positive response from actual people. In other words, by jove they're POPULAR. Perhaps, after a seemingly never-ending period of British music offering naught but indie madness (varying from very good [Friendly Fires, The Big Pink], indifferently throwaway [La Roux - by far the most overrated act of the year], and disastrous [Bad Lieutenant]) and the odd few dance and hip hop acts, people are relieved to be hearing the unfashionably different folk/country tones that feature dominantly within the Mumford & Sons sound palette. (PS "sound palette" - my apologies: it's the end of the year and we desperately need a holiday.) Upon first listen we had actually assumed the band was American because of the bluegrass, rambling alt-country, mariachi horns and Tennessee saloon-bar sounds. Album of The Week asked Ted about the apparent influence of American music on the band: "Absolutely - I can understand that kind of initial deduction from the record. We definitely have influences that come from every corner of American music - jazz, blues, country, bluegrass… That's not to say American bands or styles are the only type of music that we've been influenced by. When people get "accusing" about the country/bluegrass sound with the banjos and mandolins that we obviously really enjoy and employ throughout the instrumentation on the record, those sounds originally were derived from Celtic folk music - so it's much closer to home… Ha ha! Does that sound a bit too defensive?"

The album was recorded with producer Markus Dravs, the man behind Arcade Fire's "Neon Bible", who the band loved working with.
"Markus is an amazing guy, and with Francois Chevallier - our engineer - they made an amazing team. We spent three weeks in the studio with them, during that time we laid down live tracks for all the songs". What was it like for the band to turn their music into an actual record? "The recording process was a really great time for us because beforehand we had toured so hard - over the last 18 months we had done nothing but tour, coming up with a lot of songs while on the road - and everything happened so organically once we had the songs: from the recording to the photos for the album sleeves." Despite the name of the band (the 'Mumford' in the title being lead singer Marcus Mumford), Ted explained the songwriting process is a collective effort. "So far the songs have been written by Marcus mostly but not exclusively. Often Marcus would come to rehearsal with sketches of a song, from their we - the entire band - would build the skeleton and eventually each person contributes to the layers to arrive at, what I think is, the Mumford & Sons sound."

Underneath those layers - the vocal harmonies, the acoustic guitars, sweeping strings and banjos - lies a collection of lyrics almost exclusively driven by romantic afflictions - some desperately lovelorn, some beautifully absent of cynicism - "only love will set you free" Marcus urges in upcoming single "Sigh No More". No doubt everywhere they go, they have crowds of girls swooning. We asked Ted if the sentiments are slightly exaggerated for the benefit of the song, or is Mumford & Sons actually a band entirely peopled by diehard Romantics? "Oh god - unbelievably romantic. I would say we were embarrassingly - tragically - so. Almost to the point of cheesiness. Truly, sometimes I actually pause and wonder whether or not it's an embarrassing quality…" (at which point I strenuously object, having gained a wee bit of a crush). "There are times when Winston [banjo player] will say something or have made some kind of gesture that is so ridiculously romantic that it actually makes me a bit weak in the knees - and I'm a straight, non-curious male."

Ted admitted that the hardest thing about being on tour for all the band members - being shameless romantics - is missing their "gorgeous girlfriends". Aw. What then is the best part about touring? "We've always been a live band first and foremost - we met as part of a little live music community based at Bosen's Locker - a live music venue in London where a lot of great artists - Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale and a lot of other individual musicians - would basically get on stage and perform each others' songs, backing other artists… So, that love of playing live and the passion for being onstage playing music carried over to touring - it's what we love to do. The best parts are meeting people - We've made some pretty incredible friends over the last couple of years touring as a band. I think we're all slightly nomadic as well - we get itchy feet if we go too long without touring. And then, of course, there's that age old ailment: the Post-Tour Blues. Touring continuously helps stave off those Blues.. or at least avoid them as long as possible."

Their reputation as a fantastic live band has been floating around music media for a while now - rowdy, passionate and sincere, and you can certainly hear on the album that the songs will sound great live - probably better than they do as recorded tracks. While this is a very accomplished debut album from a band that only officially got together in 2007, their are a few little irks we have with the record. On the whole, the album seems a bit too polished and controlled - there exists moments in some songs where there's a crescendo of dynamics, but there is something held back about the arrangements that stop them from really taking off. There is also an earnestness about the vocals of Marcus Mumford that border on cringe-inducing at times - although perhaps that's because I've become so accustomed to sarcastic affectations, over-intellectualised metaphor and irony coated in tight jeans from listening to too much indie guitar music? That's not to take away from the good points of Sigh No More. It is quite a lovely listen and the layered instrumentals are really impressive, while the more spare, quiet moments on the record stand out for their understated, quiet longing. So far they haven't achieved the same level of similarly folk-driven bands like Plants and Animals or The Clientele, but their single "Little Lion Man" is easily one of the most singalong-able indie rock songs from the year.

As always we asked Ted was what his Album of The Week is: "I've been listening to The Bowerbirds a lot lately. They have made a beautiful record and the songs are incredible - really gentle." We hear that Justin Vernon from Bon Iver is a massive Bowerbirds fan as well… "That totally makes sense to me. I hear a lot of similarities between their sounds. We played a couple of shows with Bon Iver and Justin Vernon is just the most incredible, gentle, funny guy… I'm kind of thrilled about the Bowerbirds connection!"
Mumford & Sons will soon be hitting a stage near you, and we are definitely going to catch them performing at the Laneway Festival in January and see if they live up to their reputation.




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