Sigh No More* mp3 Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More buy from Rough Trade (sorry, there appears to be no US distributor yet, check itunes for singles downloads, I’ve heard there’s a few out by now, 12/4/09)
Love at first listen, this is the thing I remember about Mumford & Sons I can’t remember if I first heard it on The Waiting Room or over on Matthew’s blog, but the harmonies, the particular timbre of Marcus Mumford’s voice, (which cuts off sharply for emphasis and then breaks so tenderly), yes, the vocals sealed the deal for me with this record. The songs are beautifully written. The lyrics are gorgeous and eloquent and well… lyrical. Classical tales are told on Sigh No More in modern folk styles; this is no album for top 40 radio! Mumford & Sons spin the listener around in a flurry of sound, full of banjo, organ, dobro (a resonator guitar which sounds like a banjo), and double bass.
The twelve tracks of Sigh No More give this quartet plenty of room to show off their considerable talent. A driving beat, whether it be the strum of a guitar or the pluck of the bass, drives Marcus to an insistent crescendo more often than not, but not before pausing for a quiet, harmonic valley where we all catch our breath. It’s a formula that works very well for this band both instrumentally and lyrically. It’s the way many poems are crafted, many stories are told, it comes naturally to this type of thing. And when it all lifts at the end, as in “Awake My Soul” or the title track, “Sigh No More” and most notably, “Dustbowl Dance” I love the joy in it.
Other songs which don’t follow this path are welcome breaks. “After the Storm” has simple instrumentation and poetic words, making it a perfect ending to this debut record. With so many good songs it was a torturous task to pick one for my top 10 songs list. “White Blank Page” was the clear winner, however. As far as love songs go, this one has such a tremendously good guitar (?) refrain along with memorable these lines:
“Can you lie next to her and give her your heart, your heart?
As well as your body, and can you lie next to her and confess your love, your love?
As well as your folly”
Yes, darlings, if you have any romantic bone in your body you will continue to sigh.
Go to Matthew’s page here Scroll down (I found it online afterall) to see an exclusive video and the nail in the coffin so to speak on how I came to love this song.
Go here to get a free mp3 of Mumford & Sons new single “Sister” by giving them your email address for their mailing list.
*apologies for the mislabeled track on the Hype Machine, if you came here looking for Little Lion Man… I had a badly labeled mp3 file, eek!
Mumford & Sons / Little Lion Man video
Mumford and Sons | MySpace Music Videos
i’m obsessed with sigh no more (esp. the song). wholly obsessed. been listening to it on repeat since i first heard it
you know… I cannot get this album out of my head either. It’s just amazing, and different and I could go on and on but I tried really hard not to in my review! But I knew you’d love this one, ha! xoxo
Wonderful album, up there in my 2009 faves. Love ‘Sigh No More’ and ‘Winter Winds’ and ‘White Blank Page’ and ‘Roll Away Your Stone’… oh bugger it, it’s all fantastic!
I don’t recall where you heard M&S first, as I wasn’t there with you at the time. BUT I can tell you that one of the reasons they have not had a US Distributor for however long is because they have been negotiating behind the scenes with a variety of UK labels. They’ve very recently (5th October) come to a mutually beneficial agreement with Island Records &, given the wedge behind that lot, US Distribution & a tour won’t be far behind. There’s the little matter of Christmas & a UK tour to get out of the way first, but I’m fairly confident the lack of Stateside presence will be rectified pretty much immediately afterwards.
The £ behind them now is already showing with appearances & guest spots & editorials & broadsheet interviews & puff pieces & fuck knows what else everywhere pretty much all the time. The album debuted at #11 in the UK album charts — a phenomenal feat for a band that really does have little to offer what we consider the mainstream dollar.
I love the album, despite containing a large number of very familiar & previously released tracks. It’s very, very giddy. & woody. Gotta love the wood.
I KNOW you hold somewhat of a grudge against this not giving out more on the LP than what was previously released in drips and drabs before, BUT for a wider audience who has heard NOTHING of it, it is an astounding piece of work, as I am also quite certain you will agree. And yes, when I was posting this piece I noticed that Island logo!!! BRAVO for the band, wowowowow!!!! So…. all in all, and without hesitation, this is an amazing year for M&S, and I hope they are having a fucking good xmas holiday soon. They fucking well deserve it! #11 you say?? wow. just wow. kisses to all involved, even the ugly ones, haha! xoxo
I really cannot get all that excited about this record. Individually each song is good. As an album by the end I was crying out for something different. Bit repetitive. Like it but don’t understand all the mad love for them.
Sorry. Not like me to be negative. Maybe it’s all the hype. I hate hype.
Well, darling… it’s hype that makes each of you artists what you are. And what makes each of us fans what we are as well. I used to hate hype too, well I still do and I still avoid the big hyped bands, but to my detriment. I’ll not go on lecturing you here when you’ve so kindly come to read my drivel and gushing about music but you know how I think already. And the more I write about music the more I realize that what I am is in the business of hype. So be it. I’ll hype the shit out of the ones I love and not apologize for it. And when your album comes out, Mr. Euan, m’dear, I’ll hype that as well because you know I love it already. So there, … :-p take that hype and put it in yer pipe and smoke it xoxo!
This is slowly creeping up my Albums of 2009 list.
Mine too!! It’s amazing how such an old fashioned record, and by that I mean, a record about love and with music that is so much not modern, is so popular. I’ve got friends who are in their late 20’s who adore this. Shocking! Thanks for stopping, Rol. Always good to see you, darlin xo
But I don’t dislike it specifically cause of the hype. I dislike it cause it’s not as good as everyone is making it out to be, in my opinion. But hey. That’s what opinions are. And I can’t like everything just cause I’m told to by the world. Like I said, each song is individually good, as a collection though I got bored well before the end of the record. I think if they took the last song on the record and dropped it in the middle the whole thing would sit better with me. But that’s just me. And you know I love how a record is pieced together. This just feels like a collection of songs rather than a well thought out piece of music. Minor grumble. That and I’m not all that impressed.
As for my record. Well I really do hope you love it. But I have no expectations of hype. I am just glad it’s nearly finished!
I can see your point, Euan… and I’d have arranged the songs differently as well. But then again, I’ve not been hearing them all in their assorted versions for the past 18 months as you lucky folk over the pond have so I tend to think my ears are more forgiving. But yes… I could do with another non-crescendo ending song thrown in.
Send your record over …. hurry! I’m impatient. xo
Soon. the recording should be finished this month. be january or february i reckon before it’s mixed and mastered. then it’s all yours! and like i promised you’ll get it first. before others. xo