Mumford and Sons

I noticed the Mumford phenomenon in full force at Bestival - hordes of sixth-formers and university students in Jack Wills gear, all with exactly the same Home Counties accent. They went absolutely apeshit but in a way that makes me think they'll look back in five years and wonder what they were so excited about, cf the Levellers 20 years earlier. At least the Levellers represented some kind of counterculture rather than the harvest fair-attending, Archers-loving, posh welly-wearing, Abel & Cole-eating, Magners-drinking, coalition-voting Middle England of the Mumfords.

When I wrote something about indie and class some people retorted "it's not where you're from it's where you're at" but my problem with the Mumfords is that where they're at is EXACTLY where they're from. Their music is their upbringing writ large.

you could have stopped at Bestival tbh

I noticed the Mumford phenomenon in full force at Bestival - hordes of sixth-formers and university students in Jack Wills gear, all with exactly the same Home Counties accent. They went absolutely apeshit but in a way that makes me think they'll look back in five years and wonder what they were so excited about, cf the Levellers 20 years earlier. At least the Levellers represented some kind of counterculture rather than the harvest fair-attending, Archers-loving, posh welly-wearing, Abel & Cole-eating, Magners-drinking, coalition-voting Middle England of the Mumfords.

― The baby boomers have defined everything once and for all (Dorianlynskey), Thursday, January 20, 2011 10:37 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

i don't understand this post, but i did enjoy it

Forgot the Innocent Smoothies but Dorian otm

Divided Britain innit, the two biggest-selling genres at the moment are pop-grime and indie-folk by the looks of things.

They are already bigger than I think most folks itt realize

when I catch 3 dudes hosanning a nu english folk group in a suburban liquor store in rhode island USA, they're pretty big

But Why?

Same reason inauthentic folksy shit is popular anywhere - see also Irish pubs, Tom Cruise in Far & Away.

like it or not they've transcended the niche tho

damn i remember the track of theirs someone posted in cultural pessimism thread

new lows for england

I'm just chalking it up to another sign of god's neglect

like it or not they've transcended the niche tho

My Question was in relation to this.

neglect would beget merely entropy

mumford suggests some sort of deliberate malefaction

Little Lion Man seems like a Pogues song minus Shane MacGowan. ie. a terrible Pogues song

So, basically Mumford & Sons is to the UK what Kings of Leon is to the US: one day you wake up, and they're filling stadiums. (Except, of course, that that the UK was suckered in by KoL, too, long before the US).

looking forward to the burgeoning of Mumford and Sons tribute acts.

there's nothing Irish about Mumford and Sons, don't drag us into your problem ffs. Next you'll be trying to claim Northern Ireland is part of the Republic.

talk to the MES cuz the ILX isn't sayin

Xtians are getting behind this?! There's a F-word right in the middle of "High and Dry""Little Lion Man"!

That's known in the trade as "doing a You're Beautiful" - deploying an F-word in order to add a slight frisson of "unpredictability" to an otherwise MOR song.

maybe this band is awesome but we just can't handle their deep emotional honesty and intensity.

http://crispinschroeder.blogspot.com/2010/06/musings-on-mumford-and-sons-and.html

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, January 19, 2011 6:35 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

As the first song ended I was amazed at how connected I felt to God and to the others in the room of this club I had never been to listening to a band I had never heard. The concert continued in this vein until the encore a little over an hour later. This was not a typical concert by any means. There were so many moments of transcendence where the veil of the ordinary gig in a club were shattered and we came singing together into a larger place where our hearts were opened to something greater.

Earlier that evening I had sung worship songs with a room full of Vineyard pastors but in that dive bar in south Phoenix I was again worshipping to songs I had yet to learn. I left the concert that night feeling as if I had encountered God. I don’t say this because the music was so good or the band-members so skilled but because the music and the lyrics pointed beyond the gig to another place not so far a way and to another person who loves us without measure.

Sadly, I don't love that guy beyond measure, but I thank him for trying.

which ilx poster has the most hatred for mumford and sons?

But Why?

― Mark G, Thursday, January 20, 2011 11:34 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

they may have folksy instrumentation but their songs are basically arena-rock songs, with the build-up-to-a-big-moment dynamics, slick & thick production, unadorned diatonic harmony, and confessional lyrics sung in an exaggerated way

it's a formula that has always had wide appeal for its immediacy, and i suppose maybe the folk arragements magnify it to some people who don't actually listen to folk music or bluegrass music etc, and see that as eclectic or a change of pace

i do kinda like them still tbh

Alice likes them, I'm like "um, that's the sort of thing I should be more into than you!"

Via 'Questions' on my Facebook feed:

Have you heard of Mumford & Sons? They are amazing.

Argh.

Ouch.

As the first song ended I was amazed at how connected I felt to God and to the others in the room of this club I had never been to listening to a band I had never heard. The concert continued in this vein until the encore a little over an hour later. This was not a typical concert by any means. There were so many moments of transcendence where the veil of the ordinary gig in a club were shattered and we came singing together into a larger place where our hearts were opened to something greater.

Earlier that evening I had sung worship songs with a room full of Vineyard pastors but in that dive bar in south Phoenix I was again worshipping to songs I had yet to learn. I left the concert that night feeling as if I had encountered God. I don’t say this because the music was so good or the band-members so skilled but because the music and the lyrics pointed beyond the gig to another place not so far a way and to another person who loves us without measure.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, January 19, 2011 6:35 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

I've seen the light. (And dry-heaved.)

thank u for the testimonial ned it has renewed my faith in mumford & sons & god

Lead singer looks like Tim Tebow. Dealbreaker.

Avett Brothers sound like this now, all sort of clean and kind of whiny. I prefer boringified Avett Brothers over this.

Read that as 'bongified'

lol

I've seen the light. (And dry-heaved.)

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 21 January 2011 18:49 (1 hour ago)

Speaking to God down the big white telephone.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/LesterBangs.jpg/200px-LesterBangs.jpg
"I Saw God and/or Tangerine Dream Mumford and Sons"

xpost -- kinda watery.

I still like "Little Lion Man" a lot... but the rest of the album is indeed kind of a bore.

^ this

Little Lion Man reminds me of nothing so much as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl-CfQvz21Y

^except (vid notwithstanding) I like this a lot more.

wife: "oh i have a new favorite band!"

me: "oh cool! who?"

her: "MUMFORD & SONS!!"

me: "awww"

her: "whaaatttttt? they're good"

man is it a good thing successful relationships don't depend on music taste

can only imagine your battle to prevent her indoctrinating Junior tho

I'm actually surprised none of us from the States at least made a joke about this guy yet:

http://images.wikia.com/muppet/images/2/26/TheAmazingMumford-FacebookProfilePicture.jpg

oh shit http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/02/bob_dylan_to_perform_at_grammy.html

It lives:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzFUbEnjDOY

https://twitter.com/McNeely/status/21634978865483776

i trust u copied that from the other thread and we haven't both been browsing mumford interviews on youtube xp

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi0y_xnFVCN/

^^^ CW: photo including Jordan Peterson

Wow how sad. Wait no it isn't.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mumford-sons-member-winston-marshall-condemned-by-artists-181504226.html

Saw a friend say on Twitter that his dad is a financer of GBNews.

Also he's clearly a fash-loving twat, as is Bari Weiss and all the other free speech/cancel culture bullshitters who stan for him.