Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

Mumford & Sons’ fourth album ‘Delta’ is out now on Gentlemen of the Road/Island Records. Watch Mumford & Sons performing Guiding Light on the Graham Norton Show HERE STREAM ‘DELTA’ HERE    -   BUY DELTA HERE ----------------------------- Mumford & Sons Live: 16th November - Dublin, 3 Arena 18th November - Belfast, SSE Arena 20th November - Glasgow, SSE Hydro 21st November - Manchester, Manchester Arena 23rd November - Birmingham, Genting Arena 24th November - Sheffield, Fly DSA Arena 25th November - Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena 27th November - Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena 28th November - Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena 29th November - London, O2 Arena 1st December - Leeds, First Direct Arena 2nd December - Liverpool, Echo Arena 7th December - Philadelphia, Wells Fargo Center 9th December - Boston, TD Garden 10th December - New York, Madison Square Garden 11th December – New York, Madison Square Garden 14th December - Washington DC...

Produced by Paul Epworth at The Church Studios in London, ‘Delta’ finds the band in sparkling, experimental form. Coupling their penchant for the grandiose and the intimate, the British four-piece paint their sound with a broad range of colours and textures. It’s a record that they are immensely proud of and draws on their own individual and collective experiences over the past two years since the writing and recording process for ‘Delta’ commenced. On Thursday evening, fans connected around the world for a series of special album playback events, where ‘Delta’ was accompanied by visuals curated by, and in partnership with, National Geographic. It was an idea by the band, originally inspired by their own creation process of the album. Mumford & Sons: "While we were recording and mixing Delta, we watched a lot of films on silent including some pretty epic wildlife films by National Geographic -- like a vision-track to our soundtrack. So, we felt it would be a nice idea to ...

  Mumford & Sons are pleased to unveil the first single from their forthcoming new album, Wilder Mind.  Believe is released on the 27 th April, and precedes the band’s third album, released on 4 th May through Gentlemen of the Road/Island Records. Listen to Believe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW6SkvErFEE x  Wilder Mind was recorded at Air Studios, London and produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, HAIM, Florence & The Machine). It features twelve new tracks, written collaboratively by the band in London, Brooklyn, and Texas. A number of the new songs were written and demo'd at Aaron Dessner’s (The National) garage studios in Brooklyn. This new album marks a significant departure for the young British band from their previous records, 2009’s Sigh No More, and 2012’s Babel. The early sessions in New York and London witnessed a change in the band’s approach not just to writing and recording, but to texture and dynamics, too...

Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes ( http://TheNewBasementTapes.com ), a collaborative album project from Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons) and producer T Bone Burnett, will be released 10th November on Electromagnetic Recordings/Island Records/Harvest Records . The album was recorded in March at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, where the artists and Burnett convened for two weeks to write and create music for a treasure trove of recently discovered lyrics handwritten by Bob Dylan in 1967 during the period that generated the recording of the legendary Basement Tapes. Check out the lyric video for “Nothing To It” on Vevo which features Dylan’s actual handwritten lyrics inhabiting a surreal animated cityscape Bob Dylan’s original Basement Tapes have fascinated and enticed successive generations of musicians, fans and cultural critics for nearly fi...

“ We wanted to do something unashamed,” says Ben Lovett. “We’re confident and happy to be where we are as a band — everything that’s happened with us has exceeded expectations, and it’s all been a surprise, it’s all much bigger than what we were prepared for. So when we came to recording this record we had a choice: to shy away from that, or to realise that people dig what we’re doing, and make something robust, with that energy . ” It was December 2010, and Mumford and Sons had been on the road since the previous summer: a glorious, eventful, yet relentless time. Standing somewhere between exhilarated and exhausted, the plan now was for the band’s four members to spend a few weeks apart, write, recuperate, and then reconvene in Nashville in the New Year, with the intention of trying out material for their second album. The informality of the set-up in Tennessee perhaps helped to dispel any nerves they may have had about following up 2009’s Sigh No More, an album that had gone four t...

Mumford & Sons release their new single, ‘I Will Wait’ on the 24th September 2012. It is the first single to be taken from their second album, Babel, released on the same day. The story of Mumford & Sons has been written and mapped out on the road. Since before the release of 2009’s debut album Sigh No More, the band has rarely been off tour, but the recording of Babel brought them off the road and back into the studio. Many of the songs on the new record found their dynamic through years of tested live performance. ‘Whispers In The Dark’, ‘Lover Of The Light’, ‘Below My Feet’, ‘Lovers’ Eyes’ and ‘Hopeless Wanderer’ might be familiar to fans that have seen the band perform live over the past eighteen months across the world. Babel was produced by Marcus Dravs, a man whom the band trusts to replicate and to understand the importance of live energy as much as they do. In a similar fashion to its predecessor, it is a record that marries the upbeat with the intimate, and the unr...

Mumford & Sons release their new single, ‘I Will Wait’ on the 24th September 2012. It is the first single to be taken from their second album, Babel, released on the same day . The story of Mumford & Sons has been written and mapped out on the road. Since before the release of 2009’s debut album Sigh No More, the band has rarely been off tour, but the recording of Babel brought them off the road and back into the studio. Many of the songs on the new record found their dynamic through years of tested live performance. ‘Whispers In The Dark’, ‘Lover Of The Light’, ‘Below My Feet’, ‘Lovers’ Eyes’ and ‘Hopeless Wanderer’ might be familiar to fans that have seen the band perform live over the past eighteen months across the world. Babel was produced by Marcus Dravs, a man whom the band trusts to replicate and to understand the importance of live energy as much as they do. In a similar fashion to its predecessor, it is a record that marries the upbeat with the intimate, and the unre...

Mumford & Sons are pleased to announce details of a UK tour this autumn , their biggest headline shows to date. The dates in October will follow a relentless touring schedule for the band, that has taken them across India, Australia, Europe and America over the past 12 months. Tickets are on pre-sale now from www.mumfordandsons.com for £18.50/£20 (London) and on general sale from Wednesday. In addition to the live dates, fans have the option to pre-order a limited EP called ' Volume 1 ' under the band's alter ego, The Wedding Band . 'Volume 1' was produced by Ethan Jones and Dom Monks within two days at a London studio, with some of the band's old friends. The EP comprises of songs that are regularly heard played out on the band's tour bus, but very rarely live on stage. The 10" EPs will be limited to 100 copies per show, and can only be bought via www.mumfordandsons.com in conjunction with the purchase of gig tickets. Any remaining copies of the...

Mumford & Sons release their new single, ‘Roll Away Your Stone’ through Gentlemen Of The Road / Island Records on the 7th June 2010. It is taken from the band’s critically acclaimed, platinum selling Top 5 debut album, ‘ Sigh No More ’. It's turning out to be Mumford & Sons ' year. Spurred on by glowing word-of-mouth recommendations and a fearsome live reputation, their debut album, 'Sigh No More', has spent the first three months of 2010 in the Top 20 of the UK's album chart, soaring beyond 350,000 sales in the process. The four friends have been on the cover of the NME, sold out a triumphant British tour and secured some great slots at the summer's biggest festivals. And it's not just in the UK where things are sky-rocketing for them. The band were in Australia at the beginning of the year, where 'Sigh No More' knocked Susan Boyle off the top of the album chart and stuck around at the summit for four weeks, achieving double platinum stat...

Mumford & Sons release their new single, ‘Roll Away Your Stone’ through Gentlemen Of The Road / Island Records on the 7th June 2010. It is taken from the band’s critically acclaimed, platinum selling Top 5 debut album, ‘ Sigh No More ’. It's turning out to be Mumford & Sons ' year. Spurred on by glowing word-of-mouth recommendations and a fearsome live reputation, their debut album, 'Sigh No More', has spent the first three months of 2010 in the Top 20 of the UK's album chart, soaring beyond 350,000 sales in the process. The four friends have been on the cover of the NME, sold out a triumphant British tour and secured some great slots at the summer's biggest festivals. And it's not just in the UK where things are sky-rocketing for them. The band were in Australia at the beginning of the year, where 'Sigh No More' knocked Susan Boyle off the top of the album chart and stuck around at the summit for four weeks, achieving double platinum status...

Mumford & Sons release their new single, ‘The Cave’ through Gentlemen Of The Road / Island Records on the 1st March 2010 . It is taken from the band’s critically acclaimed Top 10 debut album, ‘Sigh No More’. Mumford & Sons have begun this decade much as they ended the last, with word-of-mouth recommendations and a fearsome live reputation helping them to become one of the most significant (and unexpected) British success stories in recent years. After Sigh No More charted at Number 11 in the UK album chart in October 2009, the album has quietly kept on selling - rising to a new high of Number 7 in January and shifting over 200,000 copies in the process. Meanwhile, the folk-rockers have been taking their euphoric live shows across the globe. A unique tour of India at the close of December included sold-out performances in Pune, New Delhi and Hyderabad . While they were there, the band decamped to a studio in New Delhi to collaborate with a collective of Rajasthani musici...

Mumford and Sons release their new single, ‘ Winter Winds ’ through Gentlemen Of The Road / Island Records on the 7th December 2009 . It is taken from the band’s critically acclaimed debut album, ‘ Sigh No More’ . Mumford and Sons are one of the most significant success stories of 2009, with their debut album charting at number 11, and number 1 on iTunes. But like all great stories, we’re not even halfway through the first novel and the best is still to come. This British folk-rock band have quickly became renowned for their euphoric live shows, heart-wrenching songcraft, and for bringing beautiful music back in vogue. Since Mumford and Sons released the first of their limited-edition vinyl EPs through Chess Club Records back in the summer of 2008, the road has become their rolling home. The gospel spread across the globe, and from one sold-out tour to the next. ‘ Sigh No More ’ was made with producer Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Bjork) harnessing all the energy and soul of their...

Mumford & Sons are pleased to announce details of a second night at Shepherds Bush Empire in March, after the first date sold-out this morning in an hour. (27.11.2009) The British folk-rockers will now play the London venue on the 13th and 14th March. Their Spring UK tour went on sale this morning at 9am , with tickets available through www.mumfordandsons.com Mumford & Sons release their new single, ‘Winter Winds’ on the 7th December through Gentlemen of the Road/Island Records. Mumford & Sons play: 3rd March – Glasgow O2 ABC 4th March - Manchester Academy 1 (Upgraded from Academy 2) 6th March - Wolverhampton Wulfrun 7th March - Newcastle University 9th March – Liverpool O2 Academy 10th March - Cambridge Junction 12th March - Brighton Corn Exchange 13th March - London O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire – SOLD OUT 14th March – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire – EXTRA DATE ADDED 16th March – Edinburgh Queen’s Hall 18th March - Dublin The Academy 20th Ma...

Mumford & Sons release their debut album, ‘ Sigh No More ’ through Gentlemen Of The Road / Island Records on the 5th October 2009 . It will be preceded by a new single, ‘ Little Lion Man ’, on the 28th September. Fresh from a series of acclaimed festival appearances throughout the Summer, Mumford & Sons deliver their eagerly anticipated debut album as one of Britain ’s most beguiling young acts in years. Creating a gutsy, old-time sound that marries the magic of Crosby, Stills & Nash with the might of Kings of Leon, the incredible energy of Mumford & Sons draws us quickly into their circle of songs: to the warmth of their stories and to this magical community of misty-eyed men. Since the band formed in late 2007, their primary goal has been to make music that matters. Mumford & Sons are Marcus Mumford (vocals, guitar, bass drum, and tambourine strapped to his left foot and right), Ben Lovett (keyboards), Country Winston (banjo, dobro, electric guitar) and Ted Dwane ...