Mumford & Sons Finish Sigh No More Follow-Up ... Probably

'We're done recording it, but if we listen back ... and discover it's sh--, we'll just start again,' Mumford's Ben Lovett says of new album.
By James Montgomery

Mumford and Sons
Photo: Getty Images

It's been a long time in the making — like, well over a year — but Mumford & Sons have finally finished the follow-up to their breakout Sigh No More album ... sort of.

In a new interview with the NME, Mumford's Ben Lovett says the new album is finished; although in keeping with the band's policy, there's a pretty good chance they might still go back and re-record the entire thing.

"We're done recording it," Lovett said. "But if we listen back while we're mixing and discover it's sh--, we'll just start again. We're not going to put it out until it's good enough."

Mumford have been working on the new album for the entirety of 2011 — in between barn-storming railway tours, of course — though they've always maintained that they've felt no pressure to rush the recording. Quite the opposite, in fact, as frontman Marcus Mumford told MTV News late last year.

"We're still recording. We don't really like to put any boundaries on it; we'll keep going until it's right," he said. "It's definitely a different experience from the first one, as it should be, I think. But it's been challenging in all the right ways. It's going well.

"I think we just want the songs to be good, and to sound right, and to feel like we've expressed everything as straightforwardly and honestly as we can," he continued. "And we're working towards that."

They've also used their live shows as a way of road-testing the new material — including a haunting ballad called "Ghosts" — which has been crucial in shaping (and editing) the still-untitled follow-up album.

"For us, that's a really helpful way of writing, and performing the song ideas that we have live is a crucial part, for us, of the songwriting process," Mumford explained. "[The songs] always change when we play them live; the dynamics change a lot. When you play it to a new room, you're playing it to new ears, and you're listening to the song through their ears. So it's a really great way to feel the song out."

What are you expecting from the new Mumford album? Let us know in the comments.

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