It has been three years since Mumford & Sons debuted their first album Sigh No More. The artists keep alive the genre Folk Rock, who to many thought was dead. And now, the London foursome released its highly anticipated album, Babel, on September 25th which has become the best selling album selling 600,000 albums. Babel recently passed Believe by Justin Bieber which sold 372,00 albums back in June. Although the album itself has brief moments of brilliance; however, the vast majority of its tracks proved underwhelming.
The album features great songs such as I Will Wait, which raises the the bar for the rest of the album, but it is not met. Songs like Ghost That We Knew and Lovers’ Eyes have been widely popular, but overall there are too many songs that come off as simple afterthoughts, such as Reminder. There are songs on the new album that bring heart felt reality, but still leave an emptiness within yourself. The slow paced songs bring down the overall mood of the album, with only three true songs that help lighten it with fast paced and creative lyrics.
Relatively successful songs include I Will Wait and the album titled, Babel. I Will Wait helped raise the expectations for the album due to its early release. Babel is nothing short of perfection for a song with lyrics that are catchy, easy to understand, and pure poetry. The song sounds live, as if you are at one of their concerts. Also, the song Hopeless Wanderer brings in a mix of both the slow and upbeat tempo that connects differences from each song.
The album did not meet the overall expectations after their first successful album which featured songs Little Lion Man and The Cave. Babel fails to meet the lofty goals that were seemingly set by the world. A lot of the songs sound alike and sometimes there are no differences between the tracks. The album is not bad, per say, it just did not do anything different from their previous album (Sigh No More). Babel still has the classic, original sound of Mumford and Sons but lacks a new element some fans were hoping for.
