Mumford’s the word despite electric sound
Popular British folk rock band feels special bond with its Canadian fans
Mumford & Sons’ multi-instrumentalist Ben Lovett is driving down the Garden State Parkway between New York and Woodstock, N.Y. It’s July 28, 2015.
For the past 24 hours, Lovett has been asked several times about the significance of the 50th anniversary of Bob Dylan’s controversial “going electric” moment at the Newport Folk Festival on July 27, 1965, which shocked folk music fans the world over.
It’s been a topic of conversation that has dogged the British folk rock band ever since the release of its third album Wilder Mind earlier this year — an album that, as opposed to the banjo stomp-laden strumming found on 2009’s Sigh No More and 2012’s Babel, was resolutely more rock, with the band mostly setting aside its arsenal of banjos, acoustic guitars, standup bass and accordion in favour of electric guitars.
As with Dylan being called a folk Judas back in the day, some observers and critics have been quick on the trigger to paint Mumford & Sons the same way.
“It’s an entirely different thing,” Lovett says as he drives. “I understand the need for us as people to understand parallels, and by understanding one thing we can understand another one better. But I don’t think it’s a very strong parallel to be drawn. We’ve been influenced by Dylan as much as every band in the world has. We love his music.
“But then I wouldn’t even say that what we’ve done is ‘gone electric.’ The first two records had a lot of the same instrumentation that we’ve got on this album. We just feel that we’ve shifted our focus a little bit and it’s not a reaction or any kind of statement against our old material, which we love. It’s definitely not a Dylan moment.”
Formed in London in 2007, Mumford & Sons have grown to be a powerhouse touring act and the de facto flag bearers of the folk revival wave. Their brand of stomp-driven folk, gritty vocals and multi-layered harmonies and big pop hooks featured on singles like Little Lion Man and I Will Wait have garnered the band critical acclaim from major publications like NME and Rolling Stone, and derision from some of the web’s biggest music sites (Pitchfork has never scored a Mumford album higher than 2.1 out of 10).
Despite naysayers, Mumford & Sons have garnered massive popularity and won Billboard, Brit and Grammy awards.
Mumford & Sons’ evolved sound on Wilder Mind hasn’t slowed the band’s progress or reduced the amount of love it gets from Canadian fans, either. Featuring rollicking single The Wolf, the album went platinum first in Canada.
Lovett knows there is a special
I don’t know what it is. It’s like a hybrid of our British roots, but it’s also part of our fascination with North America.
connection between the band’s members and Canada.
“We feel that on the ground, absolutely,” Lovett says. “Every time we come to this country, I don’t know what it is. It’s like a hybrid of our British roots, but it’s also part of our fascination with North America. It’s somewhat European but also North American. It’s a cool place. We just feel aligned with Canada and incredibly grateful.”
As for what he’s learned from recording Wilder Mind, Lovett says, “We’ve been doing this for a long time, and we’re not going to be pinned down to any particular sound or defined by one album.
“Wilder Mind feels like it’s proven a lot to us — writing it and recording it. It’s given us a lot of confidence in the future. We’re talking a lot about the next album already.”