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Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS

New Mumford & 

Sons album garners 

mixed reactions 

By AMELIA ZAK

Daily Music Editor

Life holds no constants. Sur-

rounded by an ever-changing 
host of situations, people, weather 
and 
numerous 

other 
circum-

stances, we float 
in a sea of vari-
ables. 
Frost’s 

frequently cited 
line, 
“nothing 

gold can stay,” 
reflects the feel-
ing best: we can-
not control the 
transience. So, amid the shape-
shifting and unidentifiable mark-
ers of incoming situational traffic, 
we all must grow and change in 
order to survive — and then hope-
fully thrive. But does this ines-
capable condition of the human 
experience apply to the music 
industry? Must artists change 
their sound, technique or style in 
order to survive — and then hope-
fully thrive?

Recalling Bob Dylan’s assimi-

lation of the electric guitar in the 
late 1960s and ’70s, a troubadour 
deity was transformed into an 
electric-guitar-wheeling warlord 
to the disappointment, anger, 
excitement or appreciation of 
many. Why did Dylan make this 
change? Perhaps he felt it neces-
sary to continue his production of 
inspired, original work. Or maybe 
Dylan couldn’t deny the attraction 
he held toward a sound antitheti-
cal to his acoustic guitar and har-
monica-centered arrangements.

Mumford & Sons made a simi-

lar and equally public transition 
that was granted with equal lev-
els of applause and criticism. The 
folk fans have rejected Wilder 
Mind as a sellout disappointment, 
while less invested audiences have 
greeted the album with ambiva-
lence. The reaction of the less 
invested audience defines the 
album best: Although produced 
fantastically and flowing seam-
lessly, the album allows the audi-
ence to be relatively indifferent. 
Through either the language or 
melodies, each track on Wilder 
Mind is easily digested upon ini-

tial consumption. To the soft and 
hard hearts, the cynics and the 
lovers, the casual listener and the 
auditorium audience, Mumford 
& Sons has always created, at the 
very least, universally approach-
able pop music. But unless drawn 
in by the emotional, poetic lyrics 
of heartache and loss, the Wilder 
Mind listener is asked to accept 
the same crescendo, the same 
electric guitar solo, the same Mar-
cus Mumford melodic scream.

When asked for the source of 

the album’s genre departure, the 
men of Mumford & Sons cited a 
change of location, altered per-
sonal relationships, and greater 
access to a myriad of instruments 
in the studio (rather than the 
limited instrumental resources 
of a tour bus). Guided by the pro-
duction styles of James Ford and 
Aaron Dessner, and recorded 
completely in New York City, 
Wilder Mind emerged draped in 
Strokes-like guitar solos, with a 
touch more angst, leather jackets 
and skinny jeans. Even amid these 
structural aesthetic changes, the 
musical talent of these Brits isn’t 
lost. The music is still exciting at 
times: Jam-packed with electric 
build-ups and subsequent cre-
scendos, trendy bass fills, random 
incorporations of a string section 
and jarring lyrics of a lost love, 

many of the songs recreate the 
physiological effects of a quick-
ly-drank Red Bull. The album’s 
literature, in fact, appears to be 
dedicated to the dramatic, almost 
heart-wrenching grappling of a 
found, won and then ultimately 
lost love.

But these sonic and lyri-

cal trends of Wilder Mind lack 
moderation. Each track seems 
to follow a formula: contextual 
build-up, chorus, more build-
up, a crescendo and satisfying 
denouement. “Tompkins Square 
Park,” “Believe,” and “The Wolf,” 
the album’s entry tracks, follow 
this blueprint excessively. While 
these high tempos and enthu-
siastic escalations are sure to 
be greeted with accolades and 
appreciation at the year’s audi-
toriums 
and 
music 
festivals, 

analytical listeners and folk fans 
suffer. Some respite is granted in 
the album’s last tracks: the slower 
“Ditmas,” “Only Love” and “Hot 
Arms” highlight a more delicate 
sound that was once intrinsic to 
the Mumford impression. Gone 
are the days of the banjo swings 
and acoustic guitar ballads for 
the folkiers.

Lyrical depth, another innate 

item of the Mumford music, limps 
along in its emotional effective-
ness on Wilder Mind. The myriad 

of references — Shakespearian, 
Platonic, Biblical and Steinbeck 
— sprinkled throughout 2009’s 
Sigh No More and 2012’s Babel 
make no similar reappearance in 
this 2015 effort. Most lyrical ref-
erences relate the music to areas 
of New York City, like a district 
of Brooklyn, as in “Ditmas,” or in 
the album’s opener, “Tompkins 
Square Park.” The final product 
is still engaging, but these small 
subtractions 
in 
Wilder 
Mind 

erode the potential diversity past 
albums incorporated.

“So I took you to the city for 

the night / to dance under dizzy, 
silver lights” sings Marcus Mum-
ford in the verses of the second-
ary, yet undeniably pretty track 
“Broad-Shouldered 
Beasts.” 

Touching and wholesome, many 
Wilder Mind tracks reveal that 
the signature Mumford brand 
of sonic and lyrical imagery 
wasn’t completely abolished by 
the electric guitar. For better or 
for worse, and as a result of the 
band’s creative boredom or rein-
vented inspirations, the album’s 
sound is more mainstream and 
malleable.

As waves of musical electric-

ity replaced the simple acoustic 
guitar Dylan plucked over his 
gravelly vocal tellings of a lady 
who left him tangled up in blue, 

many were convinced that Dylan 
made his transition for the sake 
of greater mainstream recogni-
tion and fandom. He was accused 
of giving the people what they 
want, because they, and all else 
associated with current popular 
culture media forums, dictated 
the market. But when examined 
retrospectively, 
Dylan’s 
foray 

into electronic was successful. 
His talents as a musician sur-
passed the strictures set in place 
by his audience. Dylan’s persona 
as the peace-loving troubadour 
belittled his smorgasbord of tal-
ents. Dylan’s electronic days bril-
liantly juxtaposed all that he once 
was and all that he was supposed 
to be.

Dylan’s changing of musical 

avenues isn’t perfectly paralleled 
in Mumford’s recent departure, 
but similarities must be noted. 
The changing of the artist brings 
criticism across the spectrum: 
from “these boys are sell outs” 
to “this is innovative and inter-
esting; bring on the change.” 
Nevertheless, these multifaceted 
debates belie a mediocre album. 
Uninteresting 
with 
sporadic 

moments of radical or inspired 
musicality, Wilder Mind is con-
currently the most and least inno-
vative album the men of Mumford 
& Sons have produced to date.

Mediocre changes on ‘Wilder Mind’

ALBUM REVIEW

B

Mumford 
& Sons

Wilder Mind

Glassnote

MUMFORD & SONS

Does this alley make us look grunge?

