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I first heard this band when I downloaded `Sigh No More' as free single of the week on itunes. I thought `oh these seem like something fresh and original.' So I was going to wait until the album came down in price but I just couldn't hold myself back any longer. I am so glad I didn't. This album is worth every single little penny. I have not been so overwhelmingly shocked by an album since Damien Rice's `O.' I literally cannot stop playing it. It's one of those fantastic albums that transport you somewhere else, into a different town, one full of great music and the sunshine beaming down. This is a great thing for a dull, dreary, February afternoon. Mumford & Sons make me very happy. They are a band that, as a music fanatic, I am constantly trying to find, so if you buy this album, I assure you, you will not be disappointed.

A friend burned me an alternative Christmas album a few days ago (thankfully no Slade!) and on it was the track "Winter Winds" by the Mumfords. It is a roaring joy of a track, a brassy, processional pop song full of banjos and horns. It's wintry in a "Fairytale of New York" way and lead singer Marcus Mumford delivers better than Parcel force. As such I quickly rushed out to buy their wonderful debut and checked out the excellent and rave reviews on Amazon. It comes with a health warning, "Sigh no More" is so addictive that you become a total bore amongst your friends because of frequent rants about its wonders. Yet equally it is the easiest piece of missionary work you will ever perform since the response back is universally positive. Who are the Mumfords? The NME tells us with pinpoint accuracy that the band was "Formed in late 2007 through a shared love of country, bluegrass and folk, the Mumford's belong to a clique that's already scaled grand artistic peaks; performers such as Laura Marling and Noah And The Whale taking the shambling, confessional style of the New York anti-folk scene and fleshing it out for broader commercial appeal". Check out the many clips on you tube and you will see a band of fresh faced folkies, decked out in waistcoats and beards having the time of their life. To the acts above you could also add a Pogues influence, a bit of the Macabees and in Marcus's voice is the passion heard in Sam Duckworths "Get Cape Wear Cape Fly debut album "Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager" (which we hope he recaptures) or even sometimes a young Peter Gabriel. The songs are all very strong but to single out a few for your attention the lovely ballad "After the storm" is achingly beautiful and what a mature work for such a young band. Similarly the single "Little Lion Man" is a banjo driven foot tapper but with superb lyrics and story. Other standouts include the initially soothing "I gave you all" which is a slow burner that builds to an excellent and powerful crescendo. Mention in dispatches should also go to Waterboys "Fisherman blues" era stomp "Roll away your stone" and the excellent high tempo folk of "Thistle and Weeds" and the sheer passion of "White Blank Page". I have in candour not yet found a real duffer on this album which is hugely impressive and with the "The Cave" they have recorded one of the songs of 2009. I have recently heard Mumfords songs not on this album including "Sister" available free from their website, the lovely "Liar" and a corking covers of Calvin Harris's "Im not alone" and the Beatles "Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight". There is clearly strength in depth with this band and talent to spare. It's great to see that Jo Whiley, Zane Lowe and Greg James from Radio 1 have enthused and championed this album all year. I have seen some reviews of "Sigh no More" suggesting that it is too angst ridden or alternatively (and in contradiction) it's a bunch of posh kids discovering that folk can be fun. Its not perfect(it comes close) but for a debut oozes huge potential and places a hefty weight of lofty expectation on a precociously and massively talented new band.

I have been buying rock music for over fifty years and this is definitely amongst my top five albums of all time. Could even be the best.Very hard to believe it is a first album! The music seems to be a fusion of rock,folk,and bluegrass and has echoes of the early Strawbs album,[[ASIN:B00000B96Q From The Witchwood] I loved the light and shade of tone, the changes of rhythm and pace,and the passionate, spiritual lyrics with their encouragement to identify with what it is like to be fully human in a flawed, but God made world. I can give no greater compliment to Marcus Mumford other than to say that if John Donne and the other metaphysical poets were alive today, they would be writing lyrics like these.Marcus is clearly very mature and talented and has gathered a tight and gifted band around him whose performance is enhanced by a superb production.They deserve to have success "rain down" on them, yet when I saw them interviewed on YouTube,] they seemed to be refreshingly modest and content to let the music speak eloquently for them. And it really does! I can't wait to see a gig of theirs. Go out and buy this. You won't regret it. You might even "Sigh no More".

Wasn't expecting to get this so soon so was pleasantly surprised. Stuck it in the kitchen cd player, selected Little Lion Man as a taster while I charged up the cafetiere. Flicked it to Track 1 & with coffee & toast in hand, started to listen. Within minutes I was taken to that place where there's a tear in your eye, a grin on your face & a giggle in your heart because you know that what you're hearing is in your life to stay!! As I inhaled deeply, I got a heady aroma of Levellers & Dave Matthews infused with subtle, occasional Fleet Foxes undertones. I didn't leave the kitchen until the album finished - it's fantastic.

Without a doubt the best album I've bought this year and probably ever. Just cannot get these songs out of my head. It's an absolutly quality folk album thats a little bit different. I can't emphasise enough how much you should buy this album and see these guys live if you have the chance. Matt

I've been waiting for this for some time ... and I'm not disappointed. The Mumfords have teased with a selection of EPs over the last year or two, each containing an astonishing array of swooningly gorgeous tunes allied to some quite excellent lyrics. They have taken their time to deliver this first full length CD, and not unreasonably, it contains several previously released tracks, this time in re-recorded fully produced form. So does it work? Yes, yes, yes! The re-recordings are in general very good. The marvellous "Winter Winds" gains a bigger, bolder production without losing any of its power, and still has the loveliest opening verse I've heard in some while. The sing-along single "Lion Man" adds a hint of menace thought some nice arrangement enhancements, and the live foot-stomper "Roll Away Your Stone" moves far closer to its epic stage feel. The new tracks, some familiar from the Mumfords outstandingly good live shows, also hold up very well indeed. Several of them are quite dark, building in typical Mumford fashion from slow and sinuous through to a thumping crescendo. "Dust Bowl Dance" (someone been reading Steinbeck?) moves from an elegant and melodic piano intro through to something close to a thrash, generating enormous power and menace. "I Gave You All" is in similar vein, and again you feel as though you are listening to something portentous, even occasionally apocalyptic. The CD begins and ends with downbeat, reflective numbers in "Sigh No More" and "After the Storm", which play to the slightly introverted image the band, and Marcus Mumford in particular, adopt, either accidentally or deliberately. The lyrics in general flirt with darkness, doubt and death, but are often beautifully crafted and rather more literary than most words around at the moment. If you are familiar with their earlier recordings, you could make a case for there being a tiny bit of over-production, a tad too much reverb, and occasionally a slight move towards politeness: the edge might just have been shaved off the mighty roar of "White Blank Page". But I feel that is more than offset by the turbo-charged new versions of "Lion Man" and "Winter Winds" (the latter rapidly becoming of my favourite songs ever). Musically, Mumford and Sons are genuinely outstanding. Their song-writing borders on the miraculous on occasions - heaven only knows where they keep that bottomless pit of great, great melodies - and Marcus Mumford's voice is a joy to listen to. The driving banjo that powers many of the tracks is refreshingly clean and integrated. I'm hooked: this is great band. I can heartily recommend their live shows, which demonstrate the full range of the band and their considerable musical talent and flexibility, along with an endearing modesty that seems quite genuine. Great band, and alongside Jon Boden's glorious "Songs from the Floodplain", my album of the year. This won't be out of the car CD player for many months to come. I'll end with the wonderful opening verse of "Winter Winds": "As the winter winds litter London with lonely hearts The warmth in your eyes swept me into your arms Was it love or fear of the cold that led us through the night For every kiss your beauty trumped my doubt"

Since buying this cd. I've not stopped listening to it. Unusual,not easy to clasify, there seems to be a hint of Blue Grass here and there. I just enjoy it so much, can't wait for there next output. Just hope they don't try and change to more mainstream sound.

Mumford & Sons, a London based folk-rock group, are the latest arrivals from the new generation folk scene which has brought us the wonderful Laura Marling and the excellent Noah & The Whale and who all seem to have connections with each other. I'm wondering if there are any more artists from the same scene waiting in the wings, because Mumford & Sons are yet another quality band and their debut is pretty much top notch. Many of the songs remind me of the style of Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes), only a little more restrained, vocally, and much of the album has the grandiose feeling of Arcade Fire, but, again, with more overall subtlety. "Sigh No More" is also quite a bleak album in places, with the subjects of heartbreak, insecurity and death tackled using dark, matter-of-fact poetry over beautifully picked minor chords. This is, however, no simple, easily defined album of angst, there is more than enough texture to the overall feel of the album and plenty of chinks of light breaking through the clouds to stop the mood from ever getting too overly fatalistic or depressing. My favourite tracks include "The Cave" which starts subtly but builds into a catchy stomper, the expansive, melodic battle between the heart and the mind, "Winter Winds", and "White Blank Page" a powerful, yet beautiful heartbreak song. "I Gave You All" is another magnificent break-up song of epic proportions, "Little Lion Man" is a great stop-start track, driven by an extremely catchy chorus, thumping bass drum and fantastic banjo, "Awake My Soul", which is truly delightful and, my particular pick of the album, the rousing "Dust Bowl Dance" which builds into a howling crescendo. However, even though those tracks are my particular favourites, I have to emphasise that the whole album is really very good indeed and no tracks which will make you reach for the 'skip' button. The one warning I will give about this album is that it does take time to discover the full splendour of some of the tracks. This is a piece of work with often subtle depth, so it would be very easy to listen to it once and brand it a little "samey". If this is the case, but you still like the sound of the album, then persevere, because it is only after a few listening sessions will the character of each track become fully apparent. A remarkable debut.

Having seen Mumford & Sons play live twice this year I was really hoping that they would come across as well on CD and I can say that I was not disapointed at all. The music and lyrics remain both powerful and inspiring and my original favourites of Little Lion Man and White Blank Page have been quickly joined by Roll Away Your Stone and I Give You All. Every track on this album is worth listning to and nothing sounds like a filler. The lyrics are constantly intriguing and cleverly worked out. The band should be very proud of this first album.

Just during the last week I heard two songs on Absolute Radio - during my morning break from my other fab new discovery of the year, Amazing Radio on DAB (which plays unsigned musicians and lets them sell their music for a 70% profit). When I heard those songs on the radio I thought for a moment I was back on Amazing Radio, as these songs were so different from the usual fare presented to us by commercial radio stations. The first song was Winter Winds - and I hung around to wait for Chris O'Connell to hopefully announce the name of the group, which I promptly jotted down with a view to downoad this song later. Then, today, I heard another song that I was blown away by - this one was Little Lion Man and the group was... wait for it... Mumford & Son again! That sealed the deal. I got quickly behind my Mac to check out the CD here on Amazon, which sounds absolutely brilliant. But guess what - it won't appear on my Christmas list. Why? Because I'm ordering it now. As if I could wait two whole weeks!