This is my take on the new offering from Mumford and Sons, called Delta.  Delta, meaning change, difference in mathematics and the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta…).  Ooo, hang on, this is the fourth album from Mumford and Sons, I get it!

It is OK, not as terrible as I feared after the ‘Wilder Mind’ debacle (see my review here…).  Mumford and Sons seem to me to have lost their direction after the glory that was, is, ‘Sigh No More’;  gentle, intimate folk rock at its best.

The Mumfords have gone very stadium, theatrical even, on us.  Not so bad, there are many tracks here that are multi layered and orchestral and they all build to a crescendo but there is a slight hint of Coldplay ‘Ghost Stories’ that I can’t get away from in my mind.   Having said that ‘Darkness Visible’ is a spellbinding instrumental track over some narrated words apparently from Paradise Lost (Milton) that confounds my doubts about the orchestral change in direction.

Overall, I’m getting into this, it is beautifully produced, detailed and mixed and comes across very nicely, I do have a fabulous stereo system here on review by Moon (see below).  Often though, I keep forgetting what I’m listening to or which track I’m on which can’t be good.

There are some highlights, however.  ‘Guiding Light’, by a mile, harks back to former Mumford and Sons glories.  ‘October Skies’ is very enjoyable and the aforementioned  ‘Darkness Visible’ is a towering track.

I suppose the problem is Coldplay do this stuff better than the Mumfords.  I do understand artistically you have to move on, U2 have done this repeatedly, but this over crowded anthemic space is done.  Of course, I’m bound to say Mumford and Sons, do folk rock better than Coldplay, maybe they need to reset and start again?

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Track Ratings:

42 ***
Guiding Light *****
Woman ***
Beloved ***
The Wild ***
October Skies  ****
Slip Away ****
Rose of Sharon  ***
Picture You  ***
Darkness Visible  ****
If I Say  ****
Wild Heart  ***
Forever  ***
Delta  ***

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Album – Delta
Artist – Mumford and Sons
Released – 16th November 2018
Download These At Least – Guiding Light, October Skies, Darkness Visible, If I Say

Source – Tidal
Player – Moon 390 Streaming pre-amplifier
Amplification – Moon 330A power amplifier
Output – JERN 14DS with REL T/5i
Cables – Nordost

Tracks – 14
Time – 61′ 50″
My Rating – 3.4 (out of 5)
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