2012 Grammy Award Winner for Album of the Year!
180 Gram 100% Virgin Vinyl! Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway! Grammy Nomination for Best Rock Song "I Will Wait", Best Americana Album & Album of the Year!! 12 New & Original Tracks!
When Mumford & Sons entered the studio to commence work on their second album in August 2011, they never envisioned it would be to follow up a debut record that had connected with so many music lovers from all different corners of the globe, and all the roads in-between.
How Mumford & Sons came to be is something that even the very four members struggle to trace. "It sort of just happened" Marcus Mumford has often mused to journalists.
Ben Lovett and Marcus were already working on songs together from their school days, but those songs didnt realise their full potential until Winston Marshall (armed with a banjo and dobro), and Ted Dwane (double bass, but with a penchant for being a multi-instrumental marvel) had learnt and lived those songs, given them new arrangements, and injected them with a real band dynamic. Even then they were reticent to make it official. The name Mumford & Sons was eventually chosen as it suggested a wholesome, family business. It suited the relationships that had grown within the band. They were brothers in all but blood relation, and they very quickly became inseparable.
They are more than excited to release Babel into the world. They had started writing new songs well before they got into the studio to record. At first, they peeled themselves off the road quite reluctantly. They love playing live, obviously, but it had also become an important part of their creative process, they had been writing and rehearsing in soundchecks, and sort of 'road testing' new songs on their very gracious audiences. But then they fell in love with recording again. The album started to come together, and with the help of Markus Dravs (Coldplay, Arcade Fire) once more (and engineer Robin Baynton), they started to relish the challenge of making this album. As a band, they've never been closer or more collaborative, all working to their strengths. And so they feel that this record is a natural progression that they're proud of, and they cannot wait to take it out on the road.
"The sophomore LP dials Mumford's volume knob several distinct notches past the place it's sat for the last three years... The percussion remains a low throb below the earnest string-based songwriting. The guitars are richer and more vivid. The banjo continues its pluck into pop culture's curious eye. The bombast is clearer. "Babel" is not the wheel reinvented; it's the wheel in HD." - Billboard.com
"Babel steps up Mumford & Sons' game without changing it too much. It feels shinier, punchier, more arena-scale than the debut, with the band hollering, hooting, plucking and strumming like Olympian street buskers. The songs lean toward the hooky folkfest stomps of tunes such as "Little Lion Man" and "The Cave," whose beer-slosh melody and fist-pump dynamics branded Sigh No More. See Babel's hymnlike first single, "I Will Wait," and "Lover of the Light" both are proof that the Mumfords do dramatic builds, dropouts and soft-loud shifts as impressively as U2 or Skrillex. The fact that these guys are able to do big rock catharsis with humble tools is part of the thrill." - Rollingstone.com
"Mumford & Sons' sophomore release is epic for a number of reasons: the gripping emotion, vulnerability, dark moments, the banjo all elements for a great musical composition. And then there is Marcus Mumford's voice. The songs on "Babel" are anchored by his powerful tone, which is beautifully gritty and gravely, and downright commanding. He's got one of the best voices of our time." - Huffingtonpost.com
Features:
180 Gram 100% Virgin Vinyl
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway
Gatefold Jacket
Limited Time Free Download
Grammy-Nominated Group
Musicians:
Marcus Mumford, vocals, guitar, drums, mandolin
Ben Lovett, vocals, keyboards, accordion, drums
Country Winston Marshall, vocals, banjo, dobro, guitar
Ted Dwane, vocals, string bass, drums, guitar
Selections:
Side A:
1. Babel
2. Whispers In The Dark
3. I Will Wait
4. Holland Road
5. Ghosts That We Knew
6. Lover Of The Light
Side B:
7. Lovers' Eyes
8. Reminder
9. Hopeless Wanderer
10. Broken Grown
11. Below My Feet
12. Not With Haste
180 Gram 100% Virgin Vinyl! Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway! Grammy Nomination for Best Rock Song "I Will Wait", Best Americana Album & Album of the Year!! 12 New & Original Tracks!
When Mumford & Sons entered the studio to commence work on their second album in August 2011, they never envisioned it would be to follow up a debut record that had connected with so many music lovers from all different corners of the globe, and all the roads in-between.
How Mumford & Sons came to be is something that even the very four members struggle to trace. "It sort of just happened" Marcus Mumford has often mused to journalists.
Ben Lovett and Marcus were already working on songs together from their school days, but those songs didnt realise their full potential until Winston Marshall (armed with a banjo and dobro), and Ted Dwane (double bass, but with a penchant for being a multi-instrumental marvel) had learnt and lived those songs, given them new arrangements, and injected them with a real band dynamic. Even then they were reticent to make it official. The name Mumford & Sons was eventually chosen as it suggested a wholesome, family business. It suited the relationships that had grown within the band. They were brothers in all but blood relation, and they very quickly became inseparable.
They are more than excited to release Babel into the world. They had started writing new songs well before they got into the studio to record. At first, they peeled themselves off the road quite reluctantly. They love playing live, obviously, but it had also become an important part of their creative process, they had been writing and rehearsing in soundchecks, and sort of 'road testing' new songs on their very gracious audiences. But then they fell in love with recording again. The album started to come together, and with the help of Markus Dravs (Coldplay, Arcade Fire) once more (and engineer Robin Baynton), they started to relish the challenge of making this album. As a band, they've never been closer or more collaborative, all working to their strengths. And so they feel that this record is a natural progression that they're proud of, and they cannot wait to take it out on the road.
"The sophomore LP dials Mumford's volume knob several distinct notches past the place it's sat for the last three years... The percussion remains a low throb below the earnest string-based songwriting. The guitars are richer and more vivid. The banjo continues its pluck into pop culture's curious eye. The bombast is clearer. "Babel" is not the wheel reinvented; it's the wheel in HD." - Billboard.com
"Babel steps up Mumford & Sons' game without changing it too much. It feels shinier, punchier, more arena-scale than the debut, with the band hollering, hooting, plucking and strumming like Olympian street buskers. The songs lean toward the hooky folkfest stomps of tunes such as "Little Lion Man" and "The Cave," whose beer-slosh melody and fist-pump dynamics branded Sigh No More. See Babel's hymnlike first single, "I Will Wait," and "Lover of the Light" both are proof that the Mumfords do dramatic builds, dropouts and soft-loud shifts as impressively as U2 or Skrillex. The fact that these guys are able to do big rock catharsis with humble tools is part of the thrill." - Rollingstone.com
"Mumford & Sons' sophomore release is epic for a number of reasons: the gripping emotion, vulnerability, dark moments, the banjo all elements for a great musical composition. And then there is Marcus Mumford's voice. The songs on "Babel" are anchored by his powerful tone, which is beautifully gritty and gravely, and downright commanding. He's got one of the best voices of our time." - Huffingtonpost.com
Features:
180 Gram 100% Virgin Vinyl
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway
Gatefold Jacket
Limited Time Free Download
Grammy-Nominated Group
Musicians:
Marcus Mumford, vocals, guitar, drums, mandolin
Ben Lovett, vocals, keyboards, accordion, drums
Country Winston Marshall, vocals, banjo, dobro, guitar
Ted Dwane, vocals, string bass, drums, guitar
Selections:
Side A:
1. Babel
2. Whispers In The Dark
3. I Will Wait
4. Holland Road
5. Ghosts That We Knew
6. Lover Of The Light
Side B:
7. Lovers' Eyes
8. Reminder
9. Hopeless Wanderer
10. Broken Grown
11. Below My Feet
12. Not With Haste
