by: Charley (@ruperto2106)
The wait is over! The long awaited sophomore release from London’s own Mumford and Sons has dropped today. And Lo and behold, there is no sophomore slump here. The four young lads (Marcus Mumford – vocals and guitar, Ben Lovett – vocals, keyboards, accordion and drums, Winston Marshal – banjo, and Ted Dwane – String bass, drums) continue to bring us classic rock/folk tunes on Babel their follow up to the multi-platinum Sigh No More.Let’s start with lead single “I Will Wait”. The strong vocals, strumming of the banjo, drums, and rhythmic styling makes this track one that can easily be sung along to, and destined to become a cult favorite. “Well I came home like a stone, and I fell heavy into your arms. These days of dust, which we’ve known, will blow away with this near sun” is nothing short of classic poetry.Lead and title track “Babel” starts the album off with a bang and continues with the instrumentation that was loved on Sigh No More. “Holland Road” is just a classic track that you can just listen to over and over again, letting the words run wild in your mind as you ponder all those that have hurt you and you were able to rise from the ashes and become a better person. Marcus Munford’s vocals are nothing short of outstanding on this track. “Ghosts That We Knew” gives us our first glimpse at a slower and mellower, yet beautifully haunting band. “Hopeless Wanderer” offers the best instrumentation the band had yet to offer.The best track on the CD by far is “Lover Of The Light”. It’s a song that is filled with emotional highs and lows.If you shell out an extra dollar or two you are treated to a cover of the Simon and Garfunkel classic “The Boxer”. This was beautifully done and does justice to such a captivating and well recognized song.Babel receives 5/5!At the moment of writing this piece I was unable to find the official video for “I Will Wait” So I offer you a chance to watch the performance of this song from this past recording of Saturday Night Live.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5t7B-ia8Y0