It’s only been one year since the release of Mumford & Sons last record, Rushmere, and Prizefighter sounds like the logical continuation of that offering.
There's plenty here for fans to chew on, and if you’ve liked what you’ve heard from the band in the past, chances are you’ll enjoy Prizefighter. It’s a solid offering, though it doesn’t take any big chances or find the group expanding beyond their established sound. Mumford & Sons knows they have a winning formula and with Prizefighter they stick to it — for the most part.
I can’t help but think Mumford & Sons have a sense of humor. They titled one of the tracks “The Banjo Song.” They must know that people associate them with the instrument. The funniest part is the banjo isn’t even that prevalent in the song! Sure, it’s there, but it's actually much more front-and-center on the following track, “Run Together.” That said, “The Banjo Song” is one of the strongest moments on the album. It’s pretty much like the band said “OK. You want Mumford & Sons? We’ll give you Mumford & Sons.”
Or at least that’s what I imagine they said.
The track is epic, but not so epic that it slips outside the confines of “folk rock.” Put another way, you can easily enjoy this one and not worry about upsetting your neighbors. This is sure to be a crowd pleaser in their upcoming live shows, and I bet will eventually go on a Mumford & Sons greatest hits collection.
What Prizefighter has that sets it apart from its predecessors are guest vocalists — and some real heavy hitters that they cut loose and have fun with. We have Chris Stapleton on “Here,” Gigi Perez on “Icarus,” Hozier on “Rubber Band Man” (which we've been playing heavily on Studio One) and Gracie Abrams on “Badlands.” I found myself enjoying the guest vocal songs quite a bit, simply because I kept hearing the vocals and thinking “Oh there’s Hozier!” and “Wait, is that Gigi Perez?” It kept the album fresh and brought a different type of variety.
To highlight one of the guest vocalist songs, “Icarus” is one of Prizefighters' more unique offerings, and almost enters gospel territory. Perez sounds great on this track, and her voice pairs nicely with Marcus Mumford. I would have liked to hear more of her throughout the album, it was that enjoyable. Who knows, maybe a full-blown collab album is on the horizon?!
“Stay” is where the album gets the most "unhinged" and comes off as much more straight up rock. I enjoyed this one and it has my vote for their next single.
When Prizefighter comes to an end with the last notes of "Clover" I got the sense that Mumford & Sons might be a little tired, almost like they feel constrained by the songs and sound they've created to this point. It made me wonder what they'd sound like if they ventured deeper into the sonic frontier. Can you imagine a full-blown Mumford & Sons electronic album? Or if they included elements of world music? The banjo replaced with synths or djembes? In the meantime, they've provided a safe, no frills album to enjoy.
You can catch Mumford & Sons headlining day three of the Hinterland Music Festival this August in St. Charles.
