More on Mumford

My last post (which was a while ago, I apologize) featured a video by the young British band Mumford & Sons. I had seen the video (a performance of their song "Roll Away Your Stone") only once, but felt the need to share it with anybody who cared; their bluegrass melodies and pained, spiritual lyrics absolutely blew me away.

After I posted the video, I followed up on the band by tracking down two of their EPs - "Mumford & Sons" and "Love Your Ground" - and was stunned by the results. Mumford & Sons are legitimately on pace with some of the best American, modern-day bluegrass acts (yes, the British are once again beating America at their own musical game.) They combine everything you love in bluegrass - four-part harmonies, banjo, mandolin, spirituality - with singer Marcus Mumford's Dave Matthews-like yelp (I say that in a good way, don't fret all you DMB haters) and create something that has been compared to everything from The Avett Brothers to Coldplay.

As I listened to them over and over again, I was struck by how impassioned Mumford's lyrics were, lyrics that he's apparently delivering to God (sorry, but nobody who sings, "It seems that all my bridges have been burned/But you say 'That's exactly how this grace thing works'," is singing to his girlfriend.) Each song presents Mumford's hesitance at giving all of himself to his God, even though he knows it's what he needs to do. His attempts at compromising his love for God and his love for this world are achingly human, and are realized in these beautiful songs.

Below I've posted videos and lyrics of my four favorite Mumford & Sons songs; watch them, hear them, and read their spiritual journeys. It's really extraordinary.

"White Blank Page"



Can you lie next to her
And give her your heart, your heart
As well as your body
And can you lie next to her
And confess your love, your love
As well as your folly
And can you kneel before the king
And say I’m clean, I’m clean

But tell me now, where was my fault
In loving you with my whole heart
Oh tell me now, where was my fault
In loving you with my whole heart

A white blank page and a swelling rage, rage
You did not think when you sent me to the grave, the grave
You desired my attention but denied my affections, my affections

But tell me now, where was my fault
In loving you with my whole heart
Oh tell me now, where was my fault
In loving you with my whole heart

Lead me to the truth and I will follow you with my whole life
Lead me to the truth and I will follow you with my whole life

"Awake My Soul"



How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes
I struggle to find any truth in your lies
And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know
This weakness I feel I must finally show

Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all
But lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall
Lend me your eyes I can change what you see
But your soul you must keep, totally free

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, you invest your life
In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, you invest your life

Awake my soul, awake my soul
Awake my soul
You were made to meet your maker
Awake my soul, awake my soul
Awake my soul
You were made to meet your maker
You were made to meet your maker

"Hold On to What You Believe"



I can’t promise you that I won’t let you down
And I
I can’t promise you that I will be the only one around
When your hope falls down
But we’re young
Open flowers in the windy fields of this war-torn world
And love
This city breathes the plague of loving things more than their creators

I ran away
I could not take the burden of both me and you
It was too fast
Casting love on me as if it were a spell I could not break
When it was a promise I could not make

But what if I was wrong?

But hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

And now this land
Means less and less to me without you breathing through its trees
At every turn
The water runs away from me and the halo disappears
And the hole when you’re not near

So what if I was wrong?

But hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

So hold on to what you believed in the light

"Roll Away Your Stone"



Roll away your stone I will roll away mine
Together we can see what we will find
Don't leave me alone at this time
For I am afraid of what I will discover inside

You told me that I would find a hole
Within the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal
And all the while my character it steals

Darkness is a harsh term don't you think
Yet it dominates the things I see

It seems that all my bridges have been burned
But you say 'That's exactly how this grace thing works’
It's not the long walk home that will change this heart
But the welcome I receive with every start

Darkness is a harsh term don't you think
And yet it dominates the things I see
Darkness is a harsh term don't you think
And yet it dominates the things I see

Stars hide your fires
For these here are my desires
And I won't give them up to you this time around
And so I will be found
With my stake stuck in the ground
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul

And you, you've gone too far this time
You have neither reason nor rhyme
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine

Can I get an Amen?

I just discovered Mumford and Sons. Literally have listened to this only once. But I've got to get it out there.

This is a live take on their tune "Roll Away Your Stone."

Whoa.

22

Well, my friends, it's that time of year again: I am about to become one full year older. This year's magic number is 22, a pointless year to celebrate were it not for the fact that it's the age at which I will graduate college (sigh.)

Anyway, you might remember that for last year's birthday celebration, I honored my 21 favorite albums of all time. I slaved tirelessly over my choices, and came out the other end confident in (most of) my selections.

Of course, only days after the list, I realized that some of it was full of crap. I am, after all, a music journalist, and will never be fully satisfied with my choices.

This year I will attempt to remedy my failed list o' 21, and will issue a list o' 22; my awesomely fantastic totally rock 'n' roll Top 22 Favorite Albums of All Time!!!!!

(pause for dramatic reaction)

Oh, but this time I'm only going to make it as a list. Seriously, finding pictures for all 21 last year - on top of writing a brief blurb about each - took forever. If you want an explanation and/or picture, just ask.

And another thing: last year I was careful to put albums that had significant meaning to me on the list, regardless of whether or not I still enjoy the record. I also tried to avoid repeat offenders. That was dumb. What you're going to get here is my down-and-dirty these-records-rock-my-world-every-time-I-listen-to-them list.

And, finally (I promise): some records are more recent selections, meaning I may be overreacting a teenie bit on them. But if that is true, I will remedy it with my list o' 23.

The Top 22 Favorite Albums of All Time!!!!! list

1. Sufjan Stevens, Seven Swans
2. Radiohead, OK Computer
3. U2, Joshua Tree
4. Sufjan Stevens, Greetings from Michigan!
5. Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
6. The Avett Brothers, Emotionalism
7. Radiohead, The Bends
8. Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
9. The Beatles, The White Album
10. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Master and Everyone
11. The Clash, London Calling
12. Bob Marley, Legend
13. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
14. Arcade Fire, Funeral
15. Josh Ritter, Animal Years
16. M. Ward, Post War
17. Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha
18. Great Lake Swimmers, Ongiara
19. Elliott Smith, From a Basement on the Hill
20. Phosphorescent, Pride
21. The Avett Brothers, Mignonette
22. Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head

Honorable Mentions: Beck, Sea Change; The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow; Band of Horses, Cease to Begin; The White Stripes, Elephant; Weezer, Weezer (The Blue Album); U2, Achtung Baby; U2, All That You Can't Leave Behind

One reason (of many) I'm glad I don't smoke

Being able to keep the windows of my car completely shut on days like today.

To add some more (Best of 08 redux) pt. 2

Yeah, I realize I only mentioned in the last post one album from '08 that was left off my top 10 list, even though I said there were four. So sue me. I ran out of time.

Anyway, here's one more album from 2008 that deserves to be mentioned on my "best of" list.

Damien Jurado, Caught in the Trees: The Seattle singer-songwriter's eighth full-length is a rather bittersweet affair, considering he wrote and recorded it after splitting with his wife of 13 years, but Jurado has channeled his pain into a 13-track folk-rock beauty, from angry tracks like "Sheets" ("Is he still coming around like an injured bird needing a nest?/A place to rest his head in a song you'll regret/Lord knows I don't want to compete/But I still sleep in the very sheets he's been in"), to the soul-bearing, cello-laden ballad "Everything Trying" ("And I would come back and admit that it wasn't your fault/But I'm tired and unwilling to be the only one who was wrong/And I would sail back to you.") It's a painful record, but through it all you hear Jurado's attempt at moving on, and in that there is something very raw and beautiful. The building piano, cello, and acoustic guitar don't hurt, either.

Check out more here.

To add some more (Best of 08 redux)

A few weeks ago, I posted my overly-extensive Top 10 Best Albums of 08 list. I mentioned in that post how much I labor over my "best-of" choices; I don't want just any albums to be in your Top 10. You gotta make 'em count.

Anyway, since posting that list I've since discovered/rediscovered four albums that I now believe could be included. Two of them were released late in the year (thus not squeezing into many "best-of" lists), and two were released earlier in the year and were staples on several such lists (I just didn't give them a chance until recently.)

The four:

Welcome Wagon, Welcome to the Welcome Wagon: It's no secret that I have a small man-crush on Sufjan Stevens (seriously, the man is extraordinary), so it's no surprise that something he's affiliated with moves me as much as this debut does. The husband-wife duo of Vito and Monique Aiuto, aka the Welcome Wagon, have much to owe Sufjan, their friend who signed them to his label (Asthmatic Kitty), played nearly every backing instrument on the album (which he produced), and then gave them booming publicity simply at the drop of his name. With or without Sufjan, though, the album is remarkable, equating to Sufjan's work on his phenomenal album Illinois, but if all of the lyrics were about Jesus.
Oh Jesus, you say? Yes, Jesus. Vito Aiuto happens to be the Reverend Vito Aiuto, a small-church preacher from Brooklyn with a guitar to strum and wife to croon. The passion and soul that the Aiuto's find in Jesus - the beauty, the love - is dripping from the music, from the intimate ballad "Up On a Mountain" to the stomping gospel tune "But for You Who Fear My Name," probably the best track on the album. Pushing each song are blues guitar riffs, gospel choir praises, and brass instruments to boot, all of which underscore the joyous celebration the Aituo's successfully shout towards the Man Upstairs. This, to me, is true worship music, the kind that doesn't just riff on a catchy melody, but which cries from its knees the power and majesty of our God.

Click here for more.
Also, Sufjan is blogging about the Welcome Wagon over at his website; highly recommended.

The Cold (woe is me)

Times like these make me really wish that ski masks were socially acceptable.

Oh and happy New Year, by the way.