Typically, I don't like music that is really popular. It's not that I'm an ideological contrarian; it's more that the characteristics I value in an artist are usually not valued by the world at large. But every now and then, something I like happens to become really popular, for one reason or another.
I actually purchased this album before it was officially released in the US. I spun it probably dozens of times before they really started to pick up steam in the states. There's nothing particularly new about this record; other artists in the West London folk scene (e.g., Laura Marling, Noah and the Whale, Johnny Flynn, et al) were already doing the "intelligent hipster folk" thing. But Mumford & Sons took that style and injected an extra level of energy in their music, and the result is something that maintains the same musical quality, but is considerably more accessible.
This is one of the albums that is really pushing acoustic music to new levels of popularity. Considering most of the new artists I've been listening to in the past two years are similarly acoustic, I really can't complain about their popularity.
Standout tracks:
- Awake My Soul
- Winter Winds
- The Cave
- Thistle & Weeds
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