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Tag Archives: mumford and sons
hopeless and hilarious wanderer
This is arguably one of the best music videos I’ve seen in years.
-j
the one
Definitely wouldn’t mind being a fly on the wall [mountain] for this.
-j
aloha
This man rules. RULES, I tell you.
-j
ROO
Festival season is upon us!
Albeit an unbelievably frustrating method of introducing a festival lineup, Bonnaroo has kept to its quirky ways. Tune in to Bonnaroo 2013 Lineup Annoucement Megathon (#BLAM), hosted by Weird Al, naturally. Hurry! Portugal. the Man is performing now!
Spoiler: Mumford and Sons will be in TN this year.
-j
tessellate
Alright, so if you couldn’t tell from the obvious genius of the video I posted here, Alt-J holds a dear place in my heart. I like the way they think through their music and production. They are one of those bands that are so good I really really really hope they don’t hit mainstream, primarily because I don’t think a lot of people will truly appreciate their originality.
That leads me to introduce you to a cover of the aforementioned song, “Tessellate.” This puts a girl between a rock and a hard place because Mumford and Sons can make anything sound like their own and make it sound awesome. And Alt-J is awesome. So, although Mumford’s performance is commendable, it’s definitely not Alt-J’s.
-j
love of the light
Let us all welcome back to the jam, am! She warned us all of the catchy-ness of Gotye earlier in the year, so you better be as excited as we are to hear her thoughts on our favorite UK boys.
The first time I heard Mumford’s new album “Babel” I knew I had found an album that would one, stick with me for a long time to come and two, would be full of songs that will always remind me of being 23. One song in particular really struck a chord with me and I almost hoped that the single wouldn’t be one featured off the album as I wanted to really claim it as my own special find…
Well beggers can’t be choosers, (or maybe it was a little bit of karma for selfishly wanting to call the jam my own..) and the British quartet released “Lover of the Light” as a single in the U.K. I mean rightfully so, the song is phenomenal.
Beyond the song and its lyrics, Mumford really nailed the video portion of this release. The Wire’s Idris Elba plays the video’s protagonist (and co-producer!) and does an excellent job expressing the song through his body to express the idea that you see and love the light with more than just your eyes.
Elba and co-producer Dan Cadan support this with the intermixing of the shots of a deer and the backdrop of Pembrokeshire, Wales to drive this point home even further. Deer, although they don’t have great vision during the daytime, utilize their other senses to the best of their ability to help them get by in life–much like Elba’s character. Just because he can’t see the light, doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love or understand it. By using his other senses he is able to navigate the ever changing terrain Wales to get him to the light.
Maybe that’s why this song struck a chord with my 23 year old self. My life has a lot of light in it: a wonderful family, great friends, a job that I love and the ability to have my masters paid for, a really great life. But there’s sometimes things that block me from these lights: my family is far away as are most of my friends, work takes up a lot of my time and involves being partly responsible for 30 college age girls and sometimes I just don’t want to do my school work–plus all those other big questions about whats wrong with the world and everyday things that allow me from sometimes not seeing “light”. But, when I can’t always see, I can feel it, heart it and in some cases smell it (sometimes you under estimate the value of clean sheets…).
No matter how much gets in your way, no matter how much darkness you may see–you can still love the light for the way it shines in invisible ways.
babel
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mumford and Sons give us, Babel.
ORDER IT. PLAY IT. REPEAT IT.
http://www.mumfordandsons.com/discography/babel
http://mumfordandsonsblog.tumblr.com/post/27328745628
-j
summer sunset
Wednesday, August 1st was dreary, hot, and humid. The humidity broke when rain hit the East Coast up until minutes before show time. And just like that, the skies cleared and there was the most picturesque sunset for the kickoff of Mumford and Son‘s month long U.S. tour. Having never performed in Jersey, the British group made their first time memorable by playing an outdoor concert at Hoboken’s Pier A Park. It’s no wonder the show was sold out to 15,000 fans in a matter of a few hours. Other than the unique talent, the views of the Manhattan skyline were breathtaking–and the sunset was a gift with purchase.
The quartet has a choir before them as they cheerfully played “Winter Winds,” “Little Lion Man,” and “White Blank Page” (during which I would bet Marcus shed a tear…or was that me?) from their first album Sigh No More. Between praising the vibe of the venue and boasting the site of the Olympic Games, Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall, and Ted Dwane were eager to share several songs off of their new album, Babel. (due September 24th!!!!) Much to our surprise, Marcus put down his guitar and assumed position at the drums. The newer songs are more rock than folk as you will notice a heavy focus on the drums and electric guitar.
As the show came to a close, the men thanked Hoboken native, Frank Sinatra with a rendition of “New York, New York,” not to be slighted by a cover of Paul Simon’s “The Boxer.” It was eerie how they could manipulate the energy of some 15,000 people. Not moment before we all were stopped dead in our tracks at the opening of “The Boxer” were we all jumping around like drunks at a jamboree.
A surge of energy spread across the sea of people, again, as Mumford and Sons concluded the show with harmonious melodies of “The Cave” beneath fireworks.
-j
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