Recently, Mumford and Sons have been getting a lot of play on the radio. Here are the three songs that are played most often:
All three of these songs, essentially, sound like the same song to me.
I Googled “mumford and sons songs sound the same” and quickly found a review which I thought sums up my thoughts perfectly:
I’d say that’s pretty damn accurate.
Does anyone else agree?
You acknowledge that “it all sounds the same” has been the refrain of the person-who-doesn’t-like-whatever for like 100 years at this point, right? And that it’s almost certainly been said by some reviewer somewhere about lots of music you do like? Saying that means you don’t like it and are rejecting it as an art form. Many people probably do agree with you. That doesn’t mean there’s some especially objective sameness to it all, compared to other music, though. The stuff you like is not special in its subtle variation. You aren’t picking up on mass hysteria. The music now is crap, just like the music ten minutes ago was crap, and the music in 1975 was crap. All jazz is the same, all rap is the same, all this rock and roll is just noise. All crap. It’s all commercial bubblegum pap, except when it’s unlistenable highway noise. Everybody hates everything, except the thing they do like, which is obviously great. This is how this works.
For the record, I’d only heard one of those three songs before, that I can remember, and I don’t like them very much, but they don’t sound the same, beyond the fact that they’re being played by the same people.
I think Jimmy has a point, in that when it’s a band you don’t like “all their crap sounds the same” but when it’s someone you do like the sameness turns into “their unmistakable style”.
On the other hand, some groups vary their songs more than others and Mumford and Sons songs do seem to be very similar. If you liked them, the singer’s voice and their “deep and soulful” ballads would probably be at the core of what you liked about them.
For the record (pun intended) they get on my last nerve.
Yes. They have the same structure and the same meter, and the banjo takes over at approximately the same place in all three of those songs you mentioned. They break into the chorus, and it sounds kind of like the chorus of the other songs.
But that doesn’t bother me–some great groups were easily identifiable. What bugs me is that I just don’t get the lyrics. What’s the point of view? Who’s he talking to? They are catchy songs. I don’t mind hearing them; I wouldn’t want to hear them too much and I probably would never seek them out.
I like the bands I like because they are capable of a broad range of sounds, and put out songs that sound different.
Blame It On The Tetons / The Ocean Breathes Salty
Two drastically different songs from the same album, that only have the sound of Isaac Brock’s voice in common.
This is just one example out of hundreds I could use.
Now, I’m willing to believe that Mumford & Sons have songs on that album that are extremely diverse and stylistically unique, but just don’t make it onto the radio. But I can say that the three songs that have gotten lots of radio play are very, very, very similar.
Maybe you should listen to more than 3 songs, then. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Blame it on the Tetons was never even released as a single, much less charted as one.
They do have a pretty varied album; I own it & I enjoy it in general. Those are probably the three singles they released because they are the most pop-friendly sounding in general - upbeat and not too much Jesus. The album to me is heavily religious. I can’t imagine the more blatant songs doing well on pop radio.
I agree with the others that it’s fine that you don’t like their sound, but they are as varied and lyrically opaque as any other band.
I would consider Winter Winds to be the strongest song on their album, and it’s definitely got a different sound than their radio hits.
Thistle & Weeds and Dust Bowl Dance are about far from the songs you listed as you can get while still staying in the same basic genre.
Ditto for I Gave You All
Wow. I really like the instrumentals of this song. I don’t think the lyrics flow well (and I hate the sound of this dude’s voice similarly to the Decemberists guy); I wish the song was just instrumental.
It reminds me of Calexico, which I think is a better band with a much better singer and lyricist.
Sunken Waltz by Calexico, which the above song has some similarities to.
Calexico owns M&S.
I like Mumford & Sons, but it seems to me that, at least in their hit songs, the song builds up but doesn’t go anywhere or have any payoff. You kind of want more out of the song, it never quite capitalizes on the crescendos, and then ends.
And to the “all their songs sound the same” refrain: to me, in my experience, all band’s songs sound the same (even entire genres) until you become familiar with them. I think that is just human nature.
The album, as other people have mentioned, is quite varied. It’s worth mentioning that they’ve only released one album so far, and it’s quite possible that they’ll do more interesting stuff on later ones. I’m not sure about the Calexico comparison - to me M&S sound more like a mix of The Band and The Arcade Fire - but I’d say that Sigh No More is a better record than Calexico’s debut, not least because it has actual songs rather than snippets.
To the OP, if you like the sound of the three songs you’ve heard, despite them sounding similar, it may be worth checking out the album. If not, there’s probably nothing on it that would change your mind - they are representative of the band’s sound.
Similarities in what sense? They’re both songs, and that’s about it.
Based off the dirge you linked to, we’ll have to agree to disagree.
I agree that Mumford and Sons hits have a similar structure but I like that structure so I’m ok with it. I really like them. I’m saying this so that I’m not completely off topic when I mention that if you haven’t heard Calexico before then you probably haven’t heard the album they did with Iron + Wine and you really ought to correct that as soon as possible because it is fantastic.
Since Mumford & Sons just put out a new album, I thought I’d resurrect this zombie.
I certainly hope you’re happy, because the new album doesn’t sound anything like olde timey Mumford & Sounds and sounds exactly like an album by The National (which I later found out that it was produced by Aaron Dessner from The National).
Mumford and Sucks.
Oh noes. The Key of Awesomewill need a do-over…
So, I see they graduated from Amish to Mennonite.
Keen wit and a musical discrimination beyond that of we mere plebians, all wrapped up in a three word epigram. How do you do it?