Mumford & Sons
The day before the release of your debut album is a worrying time for anyone. But the strain it is bearing down on the shoulders of Mumford & Sons is visibly apparent on this sleepy Sunday night in Cambridge.
What should be a time of celebration after years of hard work and turmoil is actually the start of even more worry. Your labour of love is out on the streets for all to pick apart and analyse, for a lyricist especially it could seem like a gaggle of crows picking away at your soul.
Mumford are making no attempts to hide these concerns, and in their hour and a half set you feel the these very likeable four lads have bore their hearts out to you (this is slightly worrying for myself when lead singer Marcus Mumford,jokily, but half serious, says “just so you know, music reviewers are all bastards!”).
They start with album opener ‘Sigh No More’, which slowly shifts through the room, delicate picked guitar and strong harmonised vocals pulls the crowd in closer trying to catch the stroked banjo and subtle keyboard. This is then smashed apart when the song bursts into life, instruments pushed to their full capacity, foot drum pounded rousing the whole room to stamp their foot in unison.
This is a trick the Mumford & Sons use time and time again throughout the night, with the single ‘Little Lion Man’ (which is bravely used only three songs in, the band obviously confident that the rest of their material can carry the audiences attention for the rest of the night) onto the blistering ’Awake My Soul’. But it never gets boring and you feel constantly surprised each time a song turns from gentle melodies to furious strumming and howled vocals.
If their live performance can directly influence album sales then this band have nothing to worry about and its only a matter of time before they are wowing audiences much bigger than this, so see them quick, for at the moment they are electrifying.