Spotlight – Mumford & Sons and Arcade Fire

In all honesty, I sort of missed the whole craze in the music scene towards the likes of Mumford & Sons and Arcade Fire, dismissing them as the next crop of boring Indie bands, making music that I would not enjoy. Over the course of the last couple of years, they have both been getting slowly bigger and bigger, reaching the upper echelons of the Indie world in the process.

It has been that exponential growth for both of these bands, that led to me being curious as to what they had to offer, wanting to see if all the hype and the plaudits were justified.

With that in mind, and perhaps a little behind the rest of the world, I have today listened to Mumford & Sons debut album, “Sigh No More”, and the latest offering from Arcade Fire, their third record, “The Suburbs”. The former came out in 2009, with the latter being released last year, and subsequently being dubbed the album of the year by a lot of critics, particularly in the likes of NME, and Q magazine. It was therefore about time that I gave these a listen, to see what all the fuss was about.

Mumford & Sons – Sign No More

I listened to this album first, and, as much as it pains me to say it, my ignorance towards this on its release was unjust, and more than a little unfair. This is actually a really wonderful record, oozing in alt-folk stylings, and more than a little Americana. It is easy to see why I just assumed they were American when they came out, but, to my surprise a few months back, they are inherently British, and to hear a homeland group putting out something like this is quite refreshing.

Today was a real sunny day, and kicking back with this, while reading a magazine, was awesome. It has a real chilled vibe to it, and is unlike anything you will have probably heard before. It merges the country pop stylings with a lot of folk edged musicalities, and the instruments are played to the highest of standards. Some of the songs may be weaker than others, but there are some great songs, and even though there are some that aren’t totally instant, they are just real nice songs to lay back and relax too.

It is not hard to see why they have got so big in such a short space of time, and they are a unique band, in a field of one. They are the darlings of the festival circuit, and their songs at times are massive in their impact, and at other times, are so emotive and delicate, that they are a beauty to behold. It is not a perfect record, as it can be a little sleepy in places, but there are some nice moments on Sigh No More, and more than enough to get me to come back to it in the future.

This was a pleasant surprise for me really, as I didn’t expect to enjoy this half as much as I did. It is not something I would listen to regularly, as it is probably lacking in true standout highlights for that, but as a backing track while chilling out, especially on a hot sunny day, it is a great choice.

That is me proven wrong.

Arcade Fire though was a little bit of the opposite for me.

Although The Suburbs is another sort of laid back record, it does come across as a little boring and dull in places, probably not helped by the fact that it is a mammoth 16 songs long, and pretty lengthy. Some of the tracks are a bit samey, and at times, they veer towards the “dirgey”. However, it is easy listening music that once more would serve as an acceptable soundtrack to kick back to and have in the background.

Ready To Start is the clear highlight of the record, but the rest of it doesn’t really follow suit. Vocal duties are shared at times between front man Win Butler, and wife Regine Chassagne, but it doesn’t really go anywhere for me as an album.

Arcade Fire have gone massive in the last year, culminating in their headline sets at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. At the time I thought it was strange that they had such an honour bestowed on them, but I can see why the Indie contingent are completely in love with them. They tick a lot of the boxes for Indie fans I bet, and that is why they have grown substantially in the last few months. They are now a genuinely big concern after the release of this record.

However, I definitely wasn’t blown away by this, and although it was good laid back music to relax and chill out to, it wasn’t anything ground breaking.

I am still on the same side of the fence about this band, and don’t really get the love. At least now though, I can appreciate what the rest of the world sees in them.

In short, Mumford & Sons – yes, Arcade Fire – no.