Mumford & Sons hope for third time lucky as they abandon their roots
British quartet have changed direction with their third album, taking up electric guitars and sounding more like Coldplay, but are confident their fans will still support them
Belief is big in the world of Mumford & Sons. It figures into the British quartet's music - consider Believe, the first single from their new Wilder Mind album - but it's also a key element of the way Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane approach their whole career, and in particular, the dramatic musical shift evident on Wilder Mind, released worldwide last week.
The album marks a departure from the rootsy, Americana sound that won the group millions of fans, critical accolades and industry awards for their first two albums.
The change is immediately evident: almost entirely gone are the banjo, mandolins, accordion, acoustic guitars and upright bass of 2009's Sigh No More and 2012's blockbuster Babel albums, which have sold millions worldwide. Instead, rootsy instruments have given way to synthesisers, blazing electric guitars and bass-drum loops on Wilder Mind, a distinctly different sound expressing an expanded sense of late-night melancholy.
While a major shift such as this - which now finds the band closer to the realm of British rock acts Coldplay, Snow Patrol and Elbow than former rootsy, musical brethren such as The Avett Brothers and The Lumineers - may seem risky in today's musical climate, Mumford & Sons are confident their fans will broadly endorse all their musical instincts and not a specific sound or singular recording.
"It feels almost like they're supporters of us as people rather than as musicians or rock stars or whatever," says Mumford, 28. He and his bandmates are delighted by the sunny California weather after their recent time in a still-wintry New York, where Lovett lives and Mumford visits regularly while his wife, British actress Carey Mulligan, is working on Broadway. It's also a night-and-day improvement over the grey and chilly climes of London, where Mumford and Dwane primarily reside and where the band recorded Wilder Mind with producer James Ford and associate producer Aaron Dessner of indie rock band The National.