2009: Top Newcomers Pt 3

It’s great looking back. When all these bands arrived in our ears they were so fresh. They jostled and niggled to be noticed.

Give them a bit of time and they positively fly home with their nuance and sway. So, here we are at the business end of the year lauding the young talents that ’shroomed this year, mainly from the UK but a triptych of US acts to keep the Atlantic friction in full swing. These are our favourite newbies.

-

6. Mumford & Sons

It’s always a worry when a band is ranted about on radio and in the music press months before their album is released. The Mumford & Sons name has been bandied about for months due to their friendships and collaborations with Noah And The Whale and Laura Marling, but only in October did we get to really hear what they are all about.

‘Sigh No More’ split the critics - the folkies thought they were okay, the indies weren’t sure, but the pop market seemed to take them to heart. And crossing the boundaries of those three is what the band set out to do in the first place, so success! Island picked them up after they had already completed their debut album with the help of producer Markus Dravs (‘Neon Bible’, Bjork’s ‘Homogenic’), which gave them complete creative control. And it paid off; their first record is a bit of everything - from banjo heavy folkiness to beautiful serene and harmony laden ballads.

Title track ‘Sigh No More’ is the perfect opener, showing off the band from all angles. There’s the Fleet Foxes-esque harmonies and the growing melody, building from something soft and gentle to a mammoth track packed with noise. It’s exciting and makes you want to hear more.
And that what this album offers. Well-written and well-played songs by old friends oozing talent, which branch genres and eras. There’s even a bit of folky tradition hidden in such songs as ‘Winter Winds’.

‘Little Lion Man’ follows the trend on the album by ending with one hectic, finger-pickin’ hoedown, but its memorable chorus adds something that’s slightly lacking in the other numbers. And ‘White Blank Page’ juxtaposes the huge with the intimate, using a sweet string arrangement to evoke all those senses that the other songs don’t quite manage to raise.

‘Thistle & Weeds’ is another that bucks the trend a little by being a bit more mainstream epic pop.

But this album’s defining feature has to be singer Marcus Mumford’s husk of a voice, leading the grand four-part harmonies and some superb playing from the banjo and bass players rather than the songs themselves. While this album is great in sound and spirit, there’s something not quite right. Maybe the repetitive mountain endings become too samey, detracting from the one or two that actually leave you breathless. Maybe it’s that, while the songs are fun and well put together, they’re not the catchiest. Or maybe it’s just that this debut doesn’t quite capture what this band does live. It does, however, make this album a must for anyone going to one of those buzzy and exciting Mumford gigs to make it a full on Mumford & Sons sing-a-long.

Words by Gemma Hampson

-

5. Kill It Kid

While the bucolic idyll of Bath in 2009 may be far removed from the grim conditions of the Mississippi delta of the early twentieth century, Kill It Kid are steeped in the sounds and traditions of that era’s music makers, and this year brought us their dirty and distorted take on the blues.

Name-checking Blind Willie McTell as a primary influence, head Kid Chris Turpin leads his band through a raucous blend of blues, country and folk with a bellowing growl that belies his years, yet infuses their sound with an authentic growl of anger, despair and relentless passion.

Just three months after getting the band together, One Little Indian - home to Björk among others - came a-calling with contracts, the result being the group’s eponymous debut, which Clash immediately slapped with a 9/10 review, calling it “an outstanding British record”.

The quintet - completed by Richard Jones (violin), Adam Timmins (bass), Stephanie Ward (vocals/piano), and Marc Jones (drums) - blessed 2009 with a genuine nod to a forgotten age that was rejuvenated with a boisterous, youthful vigour. ‘Kill It Kid’ remains one of the year’s finest debuts, and hopefully a starting point for anyone wishing to investigate further backwards.

Words by Simon Harper

-

Read parts 1 and 2 of our Top 10 Newcomers HERE and HERE.