Nick Bollinger considers the "plugging in" of Mumford & Sons on their latest album.
For those who always suspected the neo-rustic trappings – the banjos and squeeze-boxes, not to mention the braces and woollen vests – were an affectation rather than a sign of deep folk roots, this confirms it. The voice is recognisable but with its electric guitars, bass, drums and mushy keyboards, could almost be a different band. But with songs that tread typically angst-ridden ground and a production that is accomplished yet generic, Wilder Mind does not show Mumford and Sons to be a band with an imaginative capacity for self-reinvention so much as one that can turn their unremarkable ideas into a marketable product, whatever the season.
Songs Featured: Tompkins Square Park, The Wolf, Ditmas, Monster, Snake Eyes, Believe
