MUMFORD & SONS
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Wilder Mind
THE banjo, such a distinctive feature of Mumford & Sons’ sound is gone.
But rather than abandoning the acoustic sounds for the electric being a weakness for these British lads, it has strengthened them.
The sound stronger, almost sleeker at times.
The songs still have that emotive edge to them, they still sound like a Mumford & Sons track, but with a sound that takes the group forward.
That acoustic absence does take some time to get used to, but once that occurs, it just feels pretty right.
The best tracks are Believe, The Wolf, Monster and Snake Eyes. While obviously different from these guys, it is an enjoyable change of pace.
★★★1/2
- ALEX FAIR
MY MORNING JACKET
The Waterfall
HEAVY on mystical renewal and wavering beliefs, the seventh album from My Morning Jacket finds the American rock band stretching out.
Southern boogie and joyful sitar counterbalance the driving Spring (Among the Living) and The Waterfall, with its bounty of nature imagery, is content for soft rock crescendos and sombre ballads to set the atmosphere.
‘‘The secret took root over many years,’’ frontman Jim James declares at the end of In Its Infancy (The Waterfall), and you have to take him at his word because detail doesn’t reside beneath the heady layers assembled here, even if his unease lurks within the soulful Thin Line.
★★★
- CRAIG MATHIESON, Fairfax Media
MAJOR LAZER
Peace is the Mission
YOU’VE already heard and enjoyed DJ Snake collaboration Lean On but plenty more gems abound on latest Major Lazer release Peace is the Mission.
The influences from the Diploled trio’s recent tour of India are apparent (and welcome), particularly in the remix of Ariana Grande hit All My Love.
Grande and DJ Snake are not the only major names to feature on the album, with appearances from rap powerhouse Pusha T, songstress Ellie Goulding and full-time collaborator 2 Chainz.
Peace is the Mission is a comfortably diverse offering with tracks that range from ‘‘getting ready in the morning’’ to ‘‘one bottle of Passion Pop in’’ (most fit in the latter category).
★★★
- EMILY BAKER
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH
Dark Bird is Home
SWEDISH singer-songwriter The Tallest Man on Earth – Kristian Matsson – made for an unconvincing troubadour when he debuted with a fistful of American-folk chords and a Dylan-esque croak on 2008’s Shallow Grave.
But with each passing LP, he relaxes into a more playful figure, his heartbroken songs now just as steeped in smart-ass ’70s singer-songwriters, ’80s heartland rock, and the rockheroics of peers The War on Drugs.
Dark Bird Is Home finds him in keening voice and reflective mood; the tender memories and piano filigrees of Little Nowhere Towns recalling a childhood in Sweden, not some mythical middle America.
★★★ 1/2
- ANTHONY CAREW, Fairfax Media