There is a distinctly addictive quality to Mumford & Son's new album, Wilder Mind. "I think so too," says Ted Dwane, the band's iconic bass player. "It's the first record of ours that I've actually listened to a lot."
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Bereft of their trademark banjo, bringing in drums, electric guitars and even a little synthesiser, the album is a progression for the band that basically invented the nu-folk revolution.
"It is a little bit scary, I'll be honest," Dwane says. "People signed up for banjos and no drummer and all this sort of stuff. And we get that. And we didn't set out to piss anyone off, we just set out to stay sane."
Not a reaction to what they have produced before, Wilder Mind is a reflection of where the band is now. Nevertheless, it is a different musical world to the one they have offered in the past.
"We recognise that it is a departure," Dwane says. "Sonically there's quite a lot different on this record. And we've been asked a lot of questions like, 'Is it reacting against this or that.' But no, honestly there is no intentionality to that. Whatever we wrote is the result of the four of us having written independently, and then bringing it together. When it's been through the four-layer filtration system, then it's just the music we make."
The band's first two albums sat together quite tidily, with 2012's Babel finishing up what they started on 2007's breakthrough Sigh No More. In relation to exploring their acoustic, no drummer set-up, "I think having such narrow parameters to work within brings really great creativity. But after Babel we really did feel that we'd fully explored, certainly as much as we'd wanted to, those parameters. And in terms of creativity and not going mad, and having a really fulfilling career as musicians, we did want to spread our wings."
Yet the band have definitely gone out on a limb and asked the throng to follow them. With one fan writing, "I'm confused. I don't know how to feel," after a YouTube clip of Believe, the first single from the album, that may be difficult for some to do.
"You can't just repeat," Dwane says. "It's valueless. So we we're really keen to challenge ourselves. I suppose a byproduct of that will be challenging our fans a bit as well."
The album was produced by James Ford, with pre-production help from The National's Aaron Dessner. And though the result might confuse some, Wild Mind is a mature release from a band that know how to make quality music. That much, you can be sure, hasn't changed.
