Delta is their best album yet, spiritual solace wrapped in secular anthems.
People will relate to the universal doubts and fears that are often stirringly evoked by the music and lyrics on Delta. Mumford & Sons know their strengths and they play to them well here, proving that too much catharsis is better than not enough.
Where Wilder Mind purported to be ambitious, this record genuinely is. The soundscapes are cinematic – and intense.
There is a pulse, but it's soft and turned electronic. There is emotion, but it's been intentionally encased in a digital cocoon, one that flattens the group's bold accents (such as an embrace of vocoders) and turns Delta into soft, shimmering background music, ideal for any soothing setting you'd like.
At this point Mumford & Sons know exactly what they have to do to keep the Spotify streams rolling over, and ‘Delta’ feels like an exercise in box-ticking, no more, no less.
The problem with Delta is that it feels overwhelmed by its ambitions. The Mumfords constantly fall into the trap of confusing seriousness with grimness, revealing the goth soul lurking beneath their folkie exterior.
/ | Radio X |