So Give Me Hope in the Darkness so that I Can See the Light

Mumford & Sons came out of the gate like a battering ram destroying all crappy music in its path with the angriest and most impassioned folk music you have ever heard. Little Lion Man may be the first acoustic song that ever inspired a mosh pit. They managed to take the Tenacious D’s joke of acoustic heavy metal and made it a laugh free reality. The Cave was so impassionate it almost had me turning into a teenage groupie ready to throw myself on the band despite not being a gay homosexual (and even if I were I would not go for the unshaven, straight from the set of Newsies look, which is how great the song is). Then you have songs like White Blank Page that just burned with quiet, building rage.

But that was then. As the saying goes, you get your whole life to write your first album, then you only get six months to write the next which is why many bands (and creative arts in general) fall into a sophomore slump. And expectations were tempered even more considering the first album was build around a lot of anger, but in-between albums Marcus Mumford married Carrie Mulligan (you know, the chick from Never Let Me Go not named Keira Knightley).

All doubt that Mumford and Sons could come up with a competent follow-up were quelled right off the bat with the title track that starts off Babel, where the band turns the passion up to twelve (two more than ten). You have already undoubtedly pulled out you air-banjo for the first single I Will Wait where the group shows that can still bring the power even with a positive and loving message and will having you playing the air banjo by the end of the song. The band leaves everything out on the floor for these songs you have to wonder how none of them have yet to have a heart attack yet.

Babel does slow down a little near the middle with a couple mellower songs (or as mellow as Mumford and Sons songs can get). Ghosts That We Knew is a sweet ode to the dearly departed. That is followed up by Lover of the Light an uplifting love song. That continues with Lovers’ Eyes which borders on an Irish folk song (dare I say shanty) but stays true to the band’s core while it builds to a satisfying end. Reminder is the quietest and most simple song the band has ever written. But Mumford and Sons did not go soft because Broken Crown may be angrier and loader than anything on their debut album.

A couple weeks ago I mentioned how Dave Matthews Band songs get better after they have been road tested, after their Saturday Night Live performance, which may be the same for Mumford and Sons. But unlike the new DMB album, Babel is great enough already with the studio version, I cannot wait to hear how much better they get live. But I will wait for Mumford and Sons.

Song to Download – Babel

Babel gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.