Why Doth This Mumford Still Slap?
Why doth this Mumford still slap? I ask myself, ashamed , staring in the mirror.
The year was 2016. The location was the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. The band was Mumford and Sons. This folk collective had just gone electric with their record Wilder Mind but fortunately still made sure to pack the banjo and kick drum. So what went down that night? A lil’ Little Lion Man. I Will Wait. The motherfuggin WOLF. Can’t lie to you, folks. It was an experience. And don’t lie to yourselves. Given the opportunity, all of y’all would’ve been there with me. Arm in arm. Suspenders in Suspenders. Corduroy rubbin’ on corduroy. That’s a burden we all have to deal with. As I’m typing this, Broken Crown humbly travels through my speakers and pierces my wandering soul. Goddamn. I’m already talkin’ like them, again. Seriously though…Why doth this Mumford still slap? The Sons have a new album out today. Haven’t listened to it yet. Neither have you. I did, however, catch their performance on Fallon. I wish I could say we’re back. That I’m no longer a closeted Mumford head. Unfortunately, however, it was a harmonious pairing between band and stage. Both Mumford’s new track and Fallon’s brand of Today Show comedy are a shadow of what my younger self once revered. Reminded me just why I’ve kept that concert experience on the DL for so long. Even by that summer night in 2016, Mumford’s folk empire was waning. Their urban woodsman look had fallen out of fashion. Their desaturated, 720p music videos would soon look ancient. Hell, even Adam Driver bid adieu to Baumbach flicks and HBO’s Girls, trading in his fixed gear for a lightsaber. Mike Pence’s America was upon us, leaving Mumford and Sons on the dusty road it once traveled. Very few of their counterparts made it out with their straw hats held high. RIP to The Head and the Heart. That track, Rivers and Roads, will forever be remembered at middle school talent shows across this nation. I guess people still rock with the Avett Brothers. Good on them. But Mumford, man. They were as big as it gets. A blessing and a curse, I guess. Too big for their bespoke wool breeches. The butt of one too many “white people be like” jokes…Guy walks down the street in a crisp pair of Blundstones and a resist pin on his jean jacket. Must be on his way to a Mumford and Sons concert. Boom. Roasted.
But then again…that old Mumford still doth slaps. So how must we reckon with popular culture too young for reclamation yet too old for celebration? Sure, Marcus Mumford sang the theme song for Ted Lasso and that sort of bums me out. But hell…I’d still like to throw on Hopeless Wanderer at the pregame without judgment.
I still do believe there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Remember that Mila Kunis/Timberlake joint, Friends With Benefits? Go watch the Emma Stone cameo in the opening scene. She’s playing Timberlake’s crazy GF. Pissed to no end that he showed up late to a John Mayer concert. Made her miss Your Body Is a Wonderland so she dumps him on sight. Justin Timberlake’s reply? THANK GOD I AIN’T GOTTA SEE JOHN MAYER…
Wow. Talk about a joke aging like boxed wine. Can you believe that? The modern man not being down for Mayer? Not even the back nine of Slow Dancing in a Burning Room, JT? Unimaginable. But back in 2011, the joke landed. Because it really did take a few more years before we collectively came around on the six-string messiah. I’d say this occurred right around his Dead and Co. link up. Coincidentally, the summer Mumford went electric. So maybe, just a few more years is all I need before I can bump Little Lion Man in the Waymo. I can’t wait. After all…
That old Mumford really still doth slaps.
Oh and listen to our new Elevator Pitch on the late great one.