At the end of March, the London based band Mumford & Sons released their fourth studio album “RUSHMERE.” The album comes 16 years after their debut hit album “Sigh No More.” This new album has a run time of 34 minutes and consists of 10 tracks with track one “Malibu” and track three “Rushmere” being released as singles before the rest of the album.
“Malibu,” the opening track, is nothing memorable. It is one of the weakest tracks on the album. It is a boring song that does nothing new.It lacks the punch that many other Mumford & Sons songs have. The only redeeming quality of this track is the tone shift that happens three minutes into the song. The song builds up to this point where we get to see a more passionate side of the band.
However, even this comes with a drawback, it takes three minutes to get here, by that time most people would have probably skipped the song and found something else to listen to.
Track two “Caroline” loses itself in sounding similar to just about any Zach Bryan song. This is not a compliment. This song sounds like many songs listeners have heard before, the drums, the guitar, the vocals. All of it. When thinking about it further, listeners realized the song, they thought they were hearing was actually just six different Zach Bryan songs. Get this: this song also is not memorable much like the first track.
Track three, glorious track three. “Rushmere” is a return to basics for the band. It is reminiscent of classics such as “The Cave” and “Little Lion Man.” There is no overdone build up, there is no monotone singing. There is passion and a sense of joy that comes with the song. It feels like the band members like this song. It feels like they actually want to perform this song and are proud of it.
Track four is skippable. Track five, “Truth,” starts with a good baseline the ncontinues throughout the song. This song is refreshing compared to the rest of the album and it feels new for the band. It is not their typical stomp and holler genre but rather falls into a more folk-rock feel. If the band had been able to use this throughout the album they would have had a much better final product.
What they do poorly in other tracks on the album they change in this. The instrumental creates an atmosphere that matches the lyrics. The vocals have life in them, and listeners do not feel bored to tears while listening to this song.
Track six is a mixed bag. The lyrics are really enjoyable, and the soft piano seems to match the message. However, it feels like it is missing something. It feels like there could have been more. The song feels half-done, like there should be a build-up to a shift, and we never quite reach that point. It remains stagnant throughout. They had a good song in their hands and stopped one or two steps short, giving us a very mediocre track.
A few tracks later and the album closes out with “Carry On.” This track is very similar to “Malibu” it is nothing super interesting and feels rather bland. That is all I will say about it.
Without a doubt this was a disappointing album. Fans wanted to feel nostalgic or at least feel something, and there were only a few tracks that really delivered on that. There are redeeming qualities of the album, but you really have to look for them.
