I really fucked it up this time

Little Lion Man – Mumford & Sons

Technically released in 2009, but new to the states, and (more importantly) to me in 2010 comes Sigh No More, a brilliant little record from Mumford & Sons.

My tolerance for this sort of vaguely disconsolate, rootsy by way of an Oxford poetry anthology, coming down the mountain style folk music is usually pretty low.  Checking out their RIYLs, and you’ll get a list full of bands that I’ve never been able to get into–in spite of quite a bit of praise from other corners.  I never found anything inspiring about Blitzen Trapper, for example, and Fleet Foxes left me a bit cold.  Bon Iver was far too wispy for me.  Iron and Wine were only listenable when Sam Beam was getting his rock and roll on.  I love a banjo and all but the whole genre just never quite did it for me.

There’s something about Mumford & Sons, though, that rouses me from my stupor. They’re not afraid to go big and bold.  They don’t shy away from putting it all out there and risking the sneers of post-ironic hipsters.  They see a purpose in music–to inspire us, to fill us with awe, to leave us breathless.  And they go for it!  Not always successfully, but when it works, oh my does it work.

You can get a sense of it on “Little Lion Man.” Where I sometimes feel the finger-picking folks to get a bit precious or lackadaisical, this track comes out with a roar and pulls no punches.  I mean, seriously, who has a chorus like this:

It was not your fault but mine
And it was your heart on the line
I really fucked it up this time
didn’t I, my dear?

Then you get the wordless bridge, and the pace quickens.  You can sense the tension growing…and growing…and then they come back at you with the chorus one last time.  And it all pretty much shatters.