Showing posts with label Mumford and Sons. Show all posts

Mumford & Sons: Johannesburg


You search all your life
Stealing all you find.
You stare at your own hands
Not the hands they entwine.

~ Ngamila by Mumford & Sons, Baaba Maal, and The Very Best

I have loved Mumford & Sons since 2010, when Entertainment Weekly happened to mention them. I had been starving for new music and decided it couldn't hurt to take a few minutes to listen to one song. That song was "Little Lion Man" and pretty soon after that I bought the CD. Every release I have been excited to find out what they've come up with next, moving from heavily folk influenced to more rock and now to a collaboration with African musicians. It's been quite a progression, one that never stagnates.
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Perfect Lines ~ 1st Music Edition

There's a lot of music that I love...and TV, movies, and books. I usually share my favorite lines when recommending music, in hopes that others will go, "Ooh, that's a great line. Maybe I'll give it a shot." So, why not do a quick post when I'm in the mood? Maybe this will be a series. Maybe I'll do it just once. I'm forgetful. ;)

There is a design, an alignment, a cry of my heart to see the beauty of love as it was made to be.

$17.59 @ J&R


There's no reason not to get Spotify. It handily beats other music sites as a downloadable player that lets you listen to your personal collection or anything in their catalog (free and ad-supported or paid), and it doesn't take up much bandwidth or system resources. I have an 8 year old PC, but it hasn't skipped or frozen once in all the months I've used it. It only lacks some community features, but you can follow people (me!) and recommend songs. I have loved only Lala before, but I'm very fond of Spotify.
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Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More

I know their debut album, Sigh No More, came out in October 2009, but I only recently discovered them thanks to a small blurb in a January or February 2011 issue of Entertainment Weekly.  I don't often agree with others' opinions on music and so I had low expectations.  Rarely do I hear a song by a new artist that leaves me with such certainty that they will be a new favorite, like Rammstein, Meat Loaf, Disturbed, and a few others previously.  And it's even rarer that I'm right about that certainty, because so many albums have only one or two good songs; not even great, just good.  It turns out that there is not a wasted second on this album; all songs are gorgeously and lovingly crafted.

I'm usually one to shy away from anything with a banjo, just like bagpipes, "the missing link between noise and sound" (Danny Bhoy).  Though, in the hands of talent even a banjo can become lovely, compelling, and essential.  "Love, it will not betray you, dismay or enslave you; it will set you free" is one of the most beautiful, lyrical lines I've ever heard, and the music is so joyful and stirring that I listened to the title track probably 30 times in 3 days.  Not all the songs are happy - why should they be? - but every one has at least one perfect moment of brilliance.  This is the first on faith purchase I've made in quite a while and I'll definitely do the same with their next effort.  I just hope it can live up to the majesty that they've created here.
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