‘where you invest your love…’

… you invest your life’ …

Quite possibly the highlight of 2010 for me, was a deepening appreciation and knowledge of the English group, Mumford and Sons. I ‘discovered’ them in 2009 through After The Storm, the chorus of which is like a mantra, a prayer:

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

image via My Little Black Pot

The band comprises four 20-something friends: Marcus Mumford, Country Winston, Ben Lovett, and Ted Dwane who together create what they describe as “gutsy, old-time sound that marries the magic of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with the might of Kings Of Leon“. Their lyrics are like poetic fables, each song a magical philosophy set alight by enchanting chords infused with bluegrass, folk and country influence.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’d have noticed they showed up on the decks in my first mix Despair and Disillusion. Make no mistake, these boys have some pretty mournful tunes between them. It’s a tough call to chose a video (I love them all) but this one is perhaps the most moving: recorded rough and raw and shaky, inside a church. The lyrics are an invocation to love, awareness, life itself (gods, I’m rapidly becoming a hippie!).

… ‘your soul you must keep, totally free’ …

If you haven’t already got Sigh No More in your collection, you need to get it. And fast…!