I assure you that this is not an elaborate prank or some sort of nepotism or fan boy worship, but sitting at the foot of the chart this week is Mumford and Sons’ “Whispers in the Dark”. You heard me correct. Two weeks in a row, these English gents have sat at the bottom, and oddly enough the top and the middle of the pop music forecast. This goes to show just what an impact Babel has had on the world recently. Last week’s “Ghosts That We Knew” has slipped off the Top 100 but is still 14th on the Rock Songs and 32nd on the On-Demand chart.
Mumford and Sons - Babel
Since the history and long-winded details were covered last week, I’ll get right to the thick of it. “Whispers in the Dark” opens like a Kings of Leon song with a finger picked guitar and an atmospheric keyboard. It is not long before a banjo and crash cymbal blast opens up to what could be a fast-paced folk jam. Just as fast as it builds, it breaks and reduces down to the typical Mumford acoustic guitar and vocal verse. Somehow I just never tire of this format. Perhaps by the second album I will expect more. Significantly more refined than “Ghosts That We Knew”, this track keeps to a steady tempo and does not have the intimate details and vicious sincerity. It is instead the big to small dynamic shifts that keep you captivated (anyone remember Nirvana?). By the second half of the verse, we have added a bass drum and a finger twisting banjo rhythm. The typical Mumford choir is present, and brings the haunting chorus of harmonies. The second verse keeps the same up-tempo pace until a massive half-time switch that leads into another soft guitar and vocal section. This dynamic break up keeps us interested and adds drama. Just as soon as they get going and establish a rhythm, we run into a brick wall of crash cymbal hits. Soon comes the bridge section, and what is this? A distorted electric guitar has entered the fray. Somehow we now almost have a rock and roll feel going with very little more than which we started. Thunderous strums of acoustic guitars act snare drums while a tambourine acts as a hi-hat or ride cymbal. We finish off with what I suppose we can call the chorus and another massive crash cymbal hit with all instruments in accompaniment. We let the electric guitar feedback a moment (just in case we happened to have gotten lost in the moment and not realized it was there) and the song comes to a close.
The Mumford boys gettin' it done.
Lyrically, we drift to the shallower end of the Marcus Mumford inspiration pool. We learn of a man’s frustration with missing his chance with a woman he presumes to be saintly. He compares himself (or perhaps his infatuation) to a devil and argues that a taste of his dark romance may in fact make her stronger. He understands that his intents are wicked, albeit honest. This story is a little played out (West Side Story, Lady and the Tramp, Grease); the bad guy woos the innocent girl and we find that he is in fact not such a bad guy, and she is not so innocent. The twist here is that he was never given the chance (or he blew it). He still lusts after this woman and swears that if he were fulfilled with her love, he would prove that he could be a good man. Sounds like a win-win situation.
This song deserves a little better than the bottom of the chart, but with several other songs still on the chart, it is difficult to complain. I can hear this song being a second single. Mostly due to the straight-ahead feel and refined mix. We have seen the raw side of Mumford, and now we get another glimpse of their pop, or maybe even rock sensibility. Perhaps this is a sign of possible growth for the future. Maybe next it will be a blast beat section followed by an eye melting banjo solo over a polyrhythm breakdown. Yeah… probably not. We have enough ridiculous genre-mashing (read: “raping”) going on these days.
I don't know what "brokencyde" is, but I promise never to commit it.