Babel – an album review.

Every person I’ve spoken to who has heard Babel seems to be very much in love with it. Every review of Babel I’ve read criticises Mumford & Sons for not breaking boundaries or pushing things forward. Quick question; why break boundaries when you can do so well on a second outing under the same heading? The truth is that the album is an absolute triumph and I’m glad that Marcus and co haven’t cut back on the wild banjo-plucking builds or the choruses that already sound like they’re echoing across festival sites and in amphitheatres. That’s what we want them for.

The only correct notion I’ve read in a review is that the cover looks like an M&S advert but I was always taught not to judge a book by its cover, and extend this to albums and films. Gathered inside Babel are fifteen songs that instantly feel comforting, like the smell of a loved one’s jumper. From the opening and title track to Where Are You Now it brings everything we all love about Mumford & Sons to the table of homemade preserves and cave cheese.

What I say is let the critics carry on, critics gonna critique and all that. They’d be complaining if Babel was a space jazz odyssey as well. Time will tell on this one but I think they’ve done well, and I look forward to the summer when we will all be dancing round our ciders to Whispers In The Dark and I Will Wait.