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It’s 3:20 p.m. when Marcus Mumford and Ted Dwane sit down on red velvet lounge chairs in a chic hotel bar in Berlin. On an icy February afternoon, the bearer of the name and one of the “sons” are in a mood to chat and joke – typically British.
“This is the ROLLING STONE, we finally did it!” says Mumford with a broad grin, half hidden by sunglasses. The singer, guitarist and drummer of the folk rock group crosses his legs and makes himself comfortable. Beside him, Ted Dwane swivels slightly in his chair. Both seem relaxed. Almost as if they had just started. They have almost 20 years of band history behind them, which began in West London in 2007. Where does the new album “Prizefighter” fit in?
“Prizefighter” – the unplanned album
Between “Delta” and “Rushmere” there are six years, a pandemic, the departure of a member after political statements and a solo album by Marcus Mumford. There are, however, only eleven months between “Rushmere” and the new record “Prizefighter” (just released). This wasn’t planned, at least not at this pace. And yet the album is already finished and has a high emotional value for the musicians.
For Dwane, the record feels like a return to the beginning. Above all, she reminds him of “the feeling of freedom and community.” Mumford calls “Prizefighter” his “favorite album” – and “the best one we’ve ever made”.
The euphoria has a lot to do with the creation process. The third member of the group, keyboardist and accordionist Ben Lovett, also found his way back to well-known impulses. Tradition met spontaneity. Old companions opened new doors. In fact, “Prizefighter” began to take shape while working on “Rushmere.” A chance encounter with an old acquaintance triggered a creative phase that the trio had never experienced in almost twenty years.
Old acquaintances, new paths
“Rushmere” was created at Electric Lady Studios in New York. The National’s Aaron Dessner, who worked on 2015’s Wilder Mind, stopped by just to say hello, Dwane notes. The short visit turned into an intensive exchange. This resulted in the title track and the third single “The Banjo Song” – which brought the instrument back in a measured form.
This was followed by a session in Paris during which “Rubber Band Man” was created together with Hozier. In Biarritz they worked on “Run Together” and in Devon on “Here”.
The band then retreated to Dessner’s Long Pond studio in New York State for ten days. The place has been world-famous ever since Taylor Swift recorded her sister albums “Folklore” and “Evermore” there during the pandemic.
Dessner’s fast, intuitive way of working also shaped Mumford & Sons. Writing and recording went hand in hand. With his help, “the essence of the songs could be captured directly,” says Dwane. He describes the process as a “dust cloud” in which everyone was suddenly busy recording an album. Mumford added: “We’ve never been so fast before.”
Trust leads to honesty
The band also tried new things when it came to songwriting. Marcus Mumford talks about a key moment: at the beginning of “Prizefighter,” Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane asked him to be more involved in the lyrics.
This trust – and his 15-year friendship with Aaron Dessner – encouraged him to write “more instinctively, more imaginatively and more from the heart”. Images of “bandits and angels” in “Conversation With My Son (Gangsters & Angels),” of supermen and bank robbers in “I’ll Tell You Everything,” or of an alley cat drinking from a puddle (“Alleycat”). All of this would hardly have found its way onto a Mumford & Sons album at one time. “We wouldn’t have allowed ourselves to do that before,” he says.
From the stage to the studio
Sharing the stage with other musicians has always been a given for the band – part of their DNA. For a long time that didn’t apply in the studio. It was Dessner who first gave her the idea of bringing the energy of the stage into the recording studio. Mumford & Sons invited several guests to be part of the recording: country singer Chris Stapleton for “Here”, singer & songwriter Hozier for “The Rubberband Man”, indie folk singer & songwriter Gigi Perez for “Icarus” and bedroom pop poet Gracie Abrams for “Badlands”. All of them are close friends of the group except for the country star. This was part of the band’s imaginary wish list – to their surprise and delight, the 47-year-old said he was “more than willing” over the phone.
“Badlands” in particular stands out. Mumford stays consistently in the lower octave here. He doesn’t scream – which he usually likes to do, as he admits with a laugh. His wife, Carey Mulligan, regularly accuses him of screaming too much when he sings. There is also a dynamic 5/4 beat, which the group uses for the first time in their musical career. Mumford’s deep, powerful vocals meet Abrams’ fragile highs. One of the strongest moments on the album.
Seriousness versus lightness
“Prizefighter” was born out of “love for music,” says Dwane. It led the trio back to their roots: joy instead of pressure, self-confidence instead of doubt. This feeling runs through the entire record.
Resilience, ambition and urgency are recurring themes. The album is introspective and reflective, honest and courageous. At times it seems like a reckoning with earlier versions of herself. At the same time, playful images and imaginative scenarios lighten the seriousness.
Mumford & Sons are at a turning point. They “enjoy being artists more than ever and being able to live out the freedom that comes with it,” says Mumford. At the same time, they take their work more seriously than before. It’s about finding a balance between life and being an artist, which, according to the 39-year-old, “is basically a very dubious job.” His conclusion: “Maybe it just means taking your work seriously – and yourself less.”
