Mumford & Sons announce third studio album
Produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, HAIM, Florence & The Machine) ‘Wilder Mind’ features twelve new tracks, written collaboratively by the band in London, Brooklyn and Texas.
The new album sees the band heading in a different direction from their previous records, ‘Sigh No More’ and ‘Babel’, but Marcus Mumford describes the album as “a development, not a departure.”
“Towards the end of the Babel tour, we’d always play new songs during soundchecks, and none of them featured the banjo, or a kick-drum,” says Mumford.
“…and demoing with Aaron meant that, when we took a break, we knew it wasn’t going to involve acoustic instruments.
“We didn’t say: ‘No acoustic instruments.’ But I think all of us had this desire to shake it up.
“The songwriting hasn’t changed drastically; it was led more by a desire to not do the same thing again.
“Plus, we fell back in love with drums! It’s as simple as that,” says Mumford.
In stores on May 1st, ‘Wilder Mind’ will open the way for Mumford & Sons to walk into new territory and give listeners a taste of something different.
“It felt completely natural, though,” says Ben Lovett, “like it did when we started out. It was very much a case of, if someone was playing an electric guitar, drums were going to complement that best; and, sonically, it then made sense to add a synth or an organ.”
“We chose instruments that played well off each other, rather than consciously trying to overhaul it.”
Pre-order ‘Wilder Mind’ here and the deluxe version here
‘Wilder Mind’ in Store May 1st, 2015 via Dew Process / UMA.