Komedia, 21st October 2008

In a year’s time you won’t be able to escape the sight and sound of Mumford & Sons. Jo Whiley will “discover” the London folk four-piece. Your uber-cool uncle will be buying their album in Asda. NME will have a new messiah to make and break and every 15-year-old kid up and down the country will be dressed head to toe in tweed and will spit on you when you ask them if they like Klaxons. This is folk music for the masses.

For tonight at least, we can enjoy the wonder of Mumford & Sons in the semi-shabby surroundings of the tiny Komedia downstairs bar. On paper, four lads from London, playing a mix of folk, bluegrass and Americana shouldn’t work – but it does in every possible way. Every song has something truly wonderful about it. “Hold on to What You Believe” is the song Chris Martin is scared to write, “Roll Away Your Stone” would sit perfectly on the “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack, and the truly beautiful “White Blank Page” underlines Mumford’s soaring vocal talent and the band’s perfect harmonies. The music is magical. Singer Marcus Mumford switches up instruments during songs, one moment he is on guitar, then drums, then piano, and as for the “sons”, well they sure can play and the harmonies are gorgeous.

There is unquestionably something special about Mumford & Sons. It’s refreshing to see a band play something slightly off kilter and different from the usual run of the mill indie drivel. They’re from the movement that has spawned the likes of Laura Marling, Noah and the Whale and Johnny Flynn but perhaps the folk scene has found their leader in Marcus Mumford? They have the world at their feet and look set to be the crossover band of 2009. The kids are trading their glowsticks for banjos – welcome to the world of nu-folk.

Words by James Fuller