Mumford and Sons – Babel

Since back in July, fans of Mumford and Sons have been eagerly awaiting the release of their new album, “Babel”. Not long after this was announced, a 3 month long tour of America, Australia and the United Kingdom was penned, making up a total of 54 dates. This begs a simple question, if Mumford and Sons have achieved this in the short amount of time they have had, will their new record live up to expectation or will it fall victim to tricky second album syndrome.

The first thing that becomes apparent when listening through “Babel” is the fact the band don’t seem to have over worked themselves. The same banjo plucking manifests itself just like in their début album“Sigh No More”. But that isn’t to say its a bad thing they haven’t changed there style for the second album, as the famous saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. As Mumford and Sons have been touring all over the world, they have upgraded venues, from relatively small ones to arenas that seat up to 20,000. The new album sounds like it was produced with that major factor in mind, to be played to an amplitude of folk loving fans.

The title track “Babel” lends itself to this fact perfectly, with a punchy and catchy chorus that will surely be a festival anthem for this upcoming summer. New single “Lover Of the Night” is again more of the same, big choruses and melodies a plenty.“I Will Wait” is a personal favourite. The short, snappy chorus echoes back to their previous hit “Little Lion Man” uncannily, with a tune you will be hard pressed to get out of your head.

In reflection, “Babel” is a very good album that should not be taken lightly. It feels a lot tidier and neater round the edges than their début. There’s enough in terms of depth to the album for the avid fan to get there teeth into while they eagerly await their Mumford and Sons ticket to come through the post. It was always going to be tricky to emulate the highs of “Sigh No More” but in my opinion it does easily do this.