Mumford & Sons are one of those bands absolutely everyone has heard of; there is literally no escaping them. ‘Lover of the Light’, the latest single from Babel, is unlikely to stop this from happening. If anything it’s quite likely that this track will reincarnate ‘Mumford Mania’.
It’s pretty much everything you would expect from a Mumford & Sons song. The first verse has just Marcus Mumford, a piano and a guitar to create the mood—not unlike their overplayed hit ‘The Cave’. Admittedly, this time to shake it up a bit they’ve introduced their banjo a bit earlier so the escalation to the chorus is far more noticeable than previously. And there’s also a use of trumpets as well—which definitely gives you the clue that this is one of the bigger, more anthemic of Mumfords’ songs.
Of course, the chorus in itself is one of those massive ones that basically is designed to inspire a mass sing-along. It’s not particularly clever, nor is it original but it’s euphoric and will easily inspire 20,000 people at the O2 to sing “so love the one you hold/ and I will be your goal/ to have and to hold/ lover of the light.”
The thing about ‘Lover of the Light’ is that it feels all too familiar. It has the same slow build, big chorus, slow breakdown in the middle before building up again for the final crescendo. It has the same instruments. It has slightly different lyrics which conform to the same feel-good, emotional mood they go for on all their tracks.
It, quite frankly, is a Mumford & Sons track through and through which means if you’re a fan, you’re going to enjoy it… But if you’re not, you might just want to move on because there’s really nothing new to see here.
5/10
