Mumford & Sons Announce Album & Gentlemen Of The Road Stopovers

Mumford & Sons have officially announced the May 4th release of Wilder Mind, the group’s third studio album. Wilder Mind contains 12 tracks with a deluxe version available that also features a handful of live tracks. The Brits have also announced a series of Gentlemen Of The Road Stopovers mini-festivals.

Wilder Mind was produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, HAIM, Florence & The Machine) and features a number of songs written collaboratively by the band in London, Brooklyn, and Texas as well as tunes written and demoed at Aaron Dessner’s (The National) garage studios in Brooklyn. The band also returned to Eastcote Studios in London, where they recorded Sigh No More, for further writing and demo sessions. When it was time to record the album, Mumford & Sons laid down the tracks at AIR studios in London.

As hinted at last week, Mumford & Sons utilized electric instruments to create the new album instead of the acoustic instrumentation for which they are usually known. “Towards the end of the Babel tour, we’d always play new songs during soundchecks, and none of them featured the banjo, or a kick-drum,” said Marcus Mumford in a statement. “And demoing with Aaron meant that, when we took a break, we knew it wasn’t going to involve acoustic instruments. We didn’t say: ‘No acoustic instruments.’ But I think all of us had this desire to shake it up. The songwriting hasn’t changed drastically; it was led more by a desire to not do the same thing again. Plus, we fell back in love with drums! It’s as simple as that.”

“It felt completely natural, though,” added Ben Lovett, “like it did when we started out. It was very much a case of, if someone was playing an electric guitar, drums were going to complement that best; and, sonically, it then made sense to add a synth or an organ. We chose instruments that played well off each other, rather than consciously trying to overhaul it.”Wilder Mind is currently available for pre-order in a variety of formats.

Mumford & Sons have also announced details of a handful of Gentlemen Of The Road Stopovers in smaller towns and cities not usually known for hosting musical events such as Seaside Heights, New Jersey and Salida, Colorado. The Flaming Lips, Alabama Shakes, My Morning Jacket and Dawes are among the artists set to join Mumford & Sons at one or more Gentlemen Of The Road Stopovers this year. Tickets for the newly-announced Stopovers go on sale March 6 at 10 a.m. local time here.

Gentlemen Of The Road Stopovers 2015

Seaside Heights, New Jersey, USA
June 5th + 6th -Mumford & Sons, The Flaming Lips, Alabama Shakes, The Vaccines, The Maccabees, Dawes, The Very Best, Jenny Lewis, Little May, JEFF The Brotherhood, Blake Mills + more TBA

Waverly, Iowa, USA
June 19th + 20th -Mumford & Sons, The Flaming Lips, My Morning Jacket, Dawes, Jenny Lewis, The Maccabees, The Very Best, Rubblebucket, JEFF The Brotherhood, Blake Mills + more TBA

Aviemore, Scotland, UK
July 31st + August 1st -Mumford & Sons, Primal Scream, Simian Mobile Disco, Ben Howard, Lianne La Havas, The Maccabees, Jack Garratt, Honeyblood + more TBA

Walla Walla, Washington, USA
August 14th + 15th -Mumford & Sons, Foo Fighters, The Flaming Lips, The Vaccines, Dawes, Jenny Lewis, TuneYards, James Vincent McMorrow, JEFF The Brotherhood, Blake Mills + more TBA

Salida, Colorado, USA
August 21st + 22nd -Mumford & Sons, The Flaming Lips, Dawes, Jenny Lewis, The Vaccines, TuneYards, James Vincent McMorrow, JEFF The Brotherhood, Blake Mills + more TBA

Tracklist

1. Tompkins Square Park
2. Believe
3. The Wolf
4. Wilder Mind
5. Just Smoke
6. Monster
7. Snake Eyes
8. Broad-Shouldered Beasts
9. Cold Arms
10. Ditmas
11. Only Love
12. Hot Gates