Stepping back was crucial to finding our confidence again, says Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus
THERE’S a line in Badlands, one of Mumford & Sons’ new songs, that feels like a mission statement for new record Prizefighter.
Singer Marcus Mumford says: “The lyric says, ‘Don’t look down now/I’m not done here yet’. I was listening to that song today and that’s the sentiment of Prizefighter.
“We try really f***ing hard, we want to be great. And I think we’ll keep trying.”
I’m chatting to Mumford and keyboardist Ben Lovett in Bath, a few hours before they are due on stage at The Forum to celebrate the release of their new album.
“We feel very fortunate to be launching our sixth album, it’s a big deal,” says Lovett.
“It’s a marker of beyond the creativity and how we feel about the music itself. “When we started this band, it was all about longevity for us.
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“And it feels great to be coming up to 20 years as a band and feel like we want to do another 20.
“That’s a big statement of success for us.”
The pair are seated together on a sofa, comfortable and clearly energised by their new record.
It’s hard to believe it’s only 11 months since fifth album Rushmere signalled their return from a seven-year hiatus.
For Prizefighter, they worked with producer Aaron Dessner from US rock band The National.
They had worked with him on 2015’s Wilder Mind, and they crossed paths again while mixing Rushmere in Electric Lady Studios in New York City.
Mumford says: “Aaron showed us the beginning of an idea for Prizefighter, the song he’d written with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.
“And we instantly started writing on it.
“Aaron’s always writing music with his mates for fun. He then played us a snippet of what became new single The Banjo Song that he’d started with Jon Bellion as a sketch.
“This was the beginning of the record, a beginning of ideas, like we do with each other all the time. It was just for fun to see where it goes.”
Mumford & Sons have continued as a trio since founding member Winston Marshall departed in 2021 after publicly expressing support for a book by right-wing American journalist Andy Ngo.
Lovett explains: “We got together in January 2023 and started making music without any agenda and I felt very free.
“That was the right thing to do. That was the right start or restart after Marcus’s solo record [2022’s Self-Titled].
“And it was the first time we’d played together in a couple of years. It felt like riding an old bike.”
Their first new music came in the form of Good People — a surprising collaboration with Pharrell Williams in 2024.
“That record was a very different experience but showed us that we have range and versatility,” says Lovett.
“So, by the time we got to the studio with Aaron, we were confidence high. We loved it and wanted to be curious creatively, from a place of positivity.
“And that’s basically how the record got in to motion.”
Mumford says stepping back was crucial to finding their confidence again.
“I am less insecure about being an artist,” Mumford tells me. “I will go off to a coffee shop and read poetry and do it unapologetically.
“I’m also more playful with my lyrics. I love Clover in particular.
“I just didn’t have the confidence to be tongue-in-cheek, surreal or even slightly ridiculous.
“Those types of lyrics would never have got on any previous albums.
Aaron, like Pharrell and Dave Cobb, who produced Rushmere, sat us down and gave us quite a serious talking to about believing in ourselves and looking back at what we’ve done with pride while also looking ahead.
“Recognising our confidence and DNA at the same time is what led to us being able to write this record.
“There’s a lot of insecurity and confidence on the record and also nostalgia and ambition and so that’s why it’s called Prizefighter.”
Lovett adds: “We feel more comfortable in our own skin, with a stronger sense of identity than we’ve had as a band for a while.
“The success of Rushmere [their third No1 album] and touring last year gave us a big confidence boost and reminded us that people still care and we are having a good time.”
Prizefighter sees Mumford at their most collaborative. Gorgeous piano ballad Badlands features Gracie Abrams, while Chris Stapleton, Hozier and Gigi Perez are also guest singers.
Finneas, Dessner, Vernon, Bellion and Brandi Carlile are credited as co-writers on the record.
“We’ve always been a bit more protective in the studio,” says Mumford. “In the early days a band needs to set out their stall and show people who you are.
“We have always had this collaborative spirit where we’ve enjoyed playing with other bands but we’ve not really recognised that on record before.
“It felt the time to do it, so we’ve opened the doors and it’s been really fulfilling. It’s one big community.”
Gracie Abrams, a long-time friend of Mumford’s, was the first to hear the band’s new songs.
“I’ve known her right from the start,” says the singer. “Gracie was the first person to hear any of these demos, like before labels or managers or anyone else.
“And we found out recently that she came to one of our shows when she was 13.
“We’ve been friends for a long time. She’s amazing.
“With Badlands we asked her to pick any song to sing on and she said yes to that song which had been written to be her voice.”
Album opener Here was written with Grammy-winning country powerhouse Chris Stapleton in mind.
Mumford says: “I’m just a fan of his and I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that he should sing the second verse on Here.
“We hadn’t met, so I called him. We had a long conversation. We really connected. Then he heard the song and said, ‘Yeah, I’ll record it next week’. And he did. It was all pretty organic.
“We didn’t have a list. It was like, ‘Let’s send this to Andrew, aka Hozier, see if he wants to f*** with it’. And he said yes.”
Lovett adds: “It’s a simple environment up at Aaron’s Long Pond studio. We record then we sit around eating soup together.
“It’s not the glossy album where you’re stuck on the other side of the glass and the red light goes on and it’s your big moment.
“Making Prizefighter felt a much more human experience.”
Conversation With My Son (Gangsters & Angels) is another highlight on Prizefighter and a song that Dessner was a huge fan of.
“Yeah, Aaron was a huge advocate for that song,” says Lovett. “It felt like there was an opportunity to explore something musically and thematically that was a bit different to the rest of the record.”
Mumford, who has two daughters and a son with actress Carey Mulligan, adds: “It has a hymnal and intentionally repetitive, melodic thing like in a Trad Irish song.
“Ben is being modest but he had this clear vision for that song.
“Then we sat down and Ben made a little demo of his chord sequence, and I fell in love with it.
“I’d been writing some words that morning and it became an essential band moment.
“We sit quietly and play along until we have an idea. Ted Dwane was on the bass, Ben was on the piano, Aaron was playing a guitar, I was writing words.
“Aaron understands being in a band very well and when we play to our strengths. It fell together like that and is a good example of the alchemy of being in a band.”
Lovett, who has a young daughter with his partner, American fashion executive Molly Howard, says: “Having kids act as a mirror to your life makes you want to be a slightly better version of yourself.
“We all take fatherhood quite seriously and it means that when we’re together, it’s cherished in a very different way.
“There was a real fun and silliness to our 20s that was inefficient — like staying out until 5am just because, why not have one more?
“I think there’s something beautiful about treating this with more care. It’s a very precious thing.
“Being in Mumford & Sons is amazing and we’re lucky we get the opportunity to do this.
“And finding out we have people all over the place who appreciate that we continue to still do this, is a charger for Chapter Two.”
Mumford adds, smiling: “I would say we’re in the phase where we take our work more seriously but take ourselves less seriously.
“Making my solo album made me fall back in love with the band. I love these lads and the sense of belonging and home we get from being this band together.
“When we got back together it was like we renewed our vows.
“It’s very silly but a privilege so we’re really trying to be present and our audience has made us more grateful and appreciative. Seeing new and younger fans getting into the songs has been amazing.
“I think we’re about at the point of our career where Radiohead were when they released Hail To The Thief — that was my way into Radiohead. It’s my favourite record of all time. And through that record I discovered the rest of their catalogue.
“They’d always felt like my brother’s band, who is older than me, but then this album came out when I passed my driving test.
“I hope that Prizefighter is that first Mumford album for some people.”
Making an album so soon after another, has been inspiring and Mumford says: “We never want to turn the tap off. The tap still feels like it’s got something in it.
“We could have released Prizefighter a week after Rushmere, but we wanted to give people space and time, but now the idea is to be accelerating that process so that we can show people.
“I hope we can start writing songs and releasing them the next day, like Bruce f***ing Springsteen!
“Our Hyde Park show in July will be a celebration for us — the centrepiece of our year.
“We are inviting guests and friends and crafting the line-up at the moment.
“We’ve announced The War On Drugs, who are one of the best bands in the world and people know from working with Sam Fender.
“There’ll be more we can tell you about soon, which will be fun, we really put time and effort into those line-ups.
“Hyde Park is going to be wicked, with plenty of surprises on the day too.”
Lovett adds: “Prizefighter is important to us.
“As a band, we’ve had some fun getting here, but I think this album sets us up for a really bright future.”
- Prizefighter is out today.
MUMFORD & SONS
Prizefighter