I received my copy of Mumford and Sons debut LP Sigh No More in the mail yesterday. I wish that I could say that Island Records sent me a copy but I would be lying. I did have to order it from Amazon UK in order to get it earlier than the Oct. 20th US release date though. Which ended up being a good idea since Amazon US is charging a heinous amount by counting it as an import.

Half of the songs on this LP are available through their previous three EP’s which I have sufficiently worn out over the past number of months. Being very familiar with and loving the tracks from the EP made me quite nervous to listen to the new LP. Signing with a major label could be a disaster for these familiar tunes. Now the quartet had Island Records breathing down their necks and a whole slew of studio possibilities to tweak the songs beyond recognition. There are flares in the new recordings that are not in the original, an additional chorus here and a longer horn line there. But I am thankful to say that the band stayed true to the original intent of the songs.

If you have never listened to or heard of Mumford and Sons before than take some time to visit their Myspace page or website. Categorizing them is difficult. The immediate response would be folk or bluegrass but after becoming more accustom to their sound you’ll realize that you need to dig a little deeper than that. There’s a level of sorrow, anger and angst there that is not common in folk. There’s passion of heartache and betrayal which seems to be a fairly common theme in their lyrics and is displayed in the apparent pent up energy that they put into their instruments.

The album opens with the title and new track “Sigh No More”. As the first track this obviously sets the mood for the entire album and does so magnificently. It portrays the formula that Mumford and Sons uses through out the rest of Sigh No More. Namely somber opening, swell and close. It would reason that this would get old or mundane after 12 songs but there’s something unique about the way that Mumford and Sons does it that keeps it fresh and exciting each time. “The Cave” is an older track but still goes down as my favorite on this album as well as their older material. By title alone “Winter Wind” appeared to be a new track but turns out to be the track “But My Head Told My Heart” from the earlier EP The Cave and The Open Sea. After the first official single, “Little Lion Man”, four of the five remaining tracks are all new. “Timshel” is one of the calmer tracks on the album and “Thistle and Weeds” starts out the same until the wild hair gets too much to bear and the boys cut loose for a big finish. Closing out the album is “After The Storm” which is a very appropriate title to close Sigh No More down. After the frenetic folk storm of an album that they presented to us this track conveys a band that is tired and has given everything it has.

You would never be able to tell from the sound that Mumford and Sons has that they have only been an organized band since late 2007. To tour the world, release three EP’s, be signed to a major label and release a debut full length LP in a two year span is a remarkable accomplishment. The band has the sound musically and lyrically of a group that has the life and touring experience of a group with 5 times their tenure. Don’t expect Mumford and Sons to have a burst of brilliance and fade away. I foretell that they will be around for a while.