Mumford & Sons - The Cave And The Open Sea

‘The new Noah and the Whale’ apparently. A rough translation of this would be to say ‘Mumford and Sons is a folk group’. The unwieldy titled ‘The Cave And The Open Sea’ (a pop song it aint), is a gently pitched conclusion to a tale that has stretched across the past two singles, yet it manages to stand as a decent song in its own right and also features some nice banjo action.

As we’ve hinted, the Noah and the Whale comparisons don’t really stand up when actually listening to Mumford and Sons. Where the former had the feel of an ‘indie’ group playing something clearly folk influenced, M&S (as we’re tempted to abbreviate) feel more like the genuine folk article.

Starting gently picked and acoustic, this gradually escalates into a huge wall of sound with a myriad of strange and traditional instruments. It’s nearer to The Decemberists forays than it is to anything from this side of the pond. On the negative side however, if we must , ‘The Cave…’ isn’t particularly catchy (which we fear will be detrimental to any campaign to get Mumford & Sons to live up to their tag as one of the groups to make it big in 2009) and the voice of frontman Marcus Mumford is slightly forgettable. Overall though this is a really decent and listenable effort from what promises to be an intriguing band.