Named after London’s Rushmere Pond, where Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane first conceived the idea of a band, the 10-track LP was recorded in Nashville, as well as Savannah, Georgia, and the UK at Marcus’ studio in Devon, with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb.

The band also shared a sweet video for the new track, featuring pleased fans in a studio listening to the new song. The upbeat, bright new track is reminiscent of the groups earlier material, with its stomping drum beat and trickling banjo plucks.

The album will be the first from the folk rockers as a trio – fourth member, banjo player Winston Marshall left the group in 2021, after facing backlash for praising a book by right-wing US journalist Andy Ngo.

Announcing his decision to depart, Marshall wrote in a post on Medium: “I failed to foresee that my commenting on a book critical of the Far-Left could be interpreted as approval of the equally abhorrent Far-Right. […] For me to speak about what I’ve learnt to be such a controversial issue will inevitably bring my bandmates more trouble. […] I could remain and continue to self-censor but it will erode my sense of integrity. […] The only way forward for me is to leave the band. I hope in distancing myself from them I am able to speak my mind without them suffering the consequences.”

This is the first new material the indie group have released in seven years, since their last album ‘Delta’. The band released a digital-only live compilation, ‘Gentlemen Of The Road’ in 2024. Lead singer Mumford also dropped a debut solo album, called ‘Self-Titled’, in 2022.

In an interview in early 2024, Ben Lovett spoke about the idea of releasing new music, saying: “It just feels so great to be sharing new music again after all these years.”

Mumford added: “I think we always felt like we knew we were going to release some more music, but we wanted to wait for the right music. We’ve never been in haste, I don’t think. But when this music came around, we had a sense of urgency.”

Here is the full tracklist for ‘RUSHMERE’:

1. “Malibu”
2. “Caroline”
3. “Rushmere”
4. “Monochrome”
5. “Truth”
6. “Where It Belongs”
7. “Anchor”
8. “Surrender”
9. “Blood On The Page” Feat. Madison Cunningham
10. “Carry O”

Celebrating over a decade of friendship and sporadic conversations while touring festivals, band members Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane reconnected with the iconic producer turned fashion creative last summer during his Something In The Water Festival at Virginia Beach in North America.

After multiple songwriting sessions, the two camps went on to record the song together in New York and Paris. The track also features haunting backing vocals from a talented six-piece choir known as Native Vocalists, whose origins hail from Native American Tribes within the Great Northern Plains.

The uplifting, gospel-inspired track had its debut performance at Paris Fashion Week during Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton Menswear Autumn/Winter 2024 runway show on January 16. The band was joined by Pharrell and the Native Vocalists in a special, one-off live set for all 1,300 attendees.

Proving to be a powerful tool for showcasing new music, the runway performance lies in situ with other live debuts curated by the producer. ‘Joy (Unspeakable)’, a collaboration between Williams and gospel choir Voices of Fire, was performed at his first Paris show last June, followed by a performance of ‘Airplane Tickets’ alongside Swae Lee and Rauw Alejandro at his pre-fall 2024 show in Hong Kong last November.

Although some fans might be surprised by the collaboration with the British trio, this isn’t the first time Williams has teamed up with artists from opposite ends of the spectrum, working with the likes of Daft Punk, Calvin Harris, Beck, and Tame Impala.

Williams has also been informally credited as one of the driving forces behind Maggie Rogers’ career, as seen in a viral video of him listening to and praising her song ‘Alaska’ during a music majors’ workshop and masterclass at The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University (NYU).

The renowned London band seem to be choosing their partnerships wisely, honing in on other artists who share a clear mutual respect for music. In October last year, the group teased unsuspecting fans at the Austin City Limits Music Festival by bringing on surprise guest Noah Kahan to perform a simplified rendition of unreleased track ‘Maybe’, another of what appears to be many impressive features on their upcoming album, their first since ‘Delta’ in 2018.

You can listen to the new single ‘Good People’ here.

A company not light on their fair share of controversies, hosting The Joe Rogan Experience was never going to make things easier for them. One of the most popular podcasts on the planet, it has Rogan talking to a whole host of names from a variety of perspectives. What’s caused this particular problem is a recent episode with scientist Robert Malone, who helped make mRNA vaccines. Malone made a number of highly disputed claims about the covid-19 vaccine’s efficacy that have caused many complaints from scientific communities.

In response, a number of artists have asked for their music to be removed from the platform, criticising Spotify’s lack of response against Rogan. Highly-influential singer-songwriter Neil Young started the fire so to speak, releasing an open letter that criticised Spotify for hosting platforms that were “spreading false information about the vaccines“. People who have followed suit include similarly acclaimed artists such as Joni Mitchell, the comedian Stewart Lee, and folk-rock trio Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Now, you may be wondering where an ex-member of family-friendly folk group Mumford & Sons comes into all of this. Winston Marshall left the group last summer after they all received backlash online due to a tweet Marshall posted, wherein he praised right-wing author Andy Ngo. Last Thursday, an essay Marshall wrote was published online, entitled “When Artists Become the Censors“.

When artists start censoring each other, who can be surprised that self-censorship becomes the norm? Me for ⁦⁦@bariweiss⁩’ Common Sense https://t.co/aGZ6F9ht3a — Winston Marshall (@MrWinMarshall) February 3, 2022

In the almost 1,500 word essay, Marshall criticises attempts to deplatform certain artists for their views, comparing the situation to the likes of Soviet Russia, but arguing that this time around the power of censorship is in the hands of the artists, not the government. He criticises Young as a hypocrite, noting how his music is still available on Amazon and Apple streaming platforms, companies with their own troubled history in terms of how they treat their workers.

Blaming the situation on a “groupthink“ mentality within the industry itself, Marshall notes other examples where he believes prominent artists have been shamed for going outside the accepted mentality, such as Kanye West’s views on Trump and J.K. Rowling on trans people, saying “Criticism is, of course, fine, but attempts to deplatform have gone too far“.

In the end, he argues that, instead of attempting to deplatform Rogan, Young should have started his own podcast, saying that “More speech rather than less is the classical liberal tradition of getting closer to the truth“.

If you want to read Marshall’s essay in full, it can be found here. Whether you agree with him or not, many people are just glad that Spotify’s time of reckoning finally seems to be nigh, with some even arguing that Young hasn’t criticised the platform enough, what with their notorious history of underpaying artists not being mentioned by his boycott. Either way, we’ll have to wait and see what comes of this, but it seems something’s going to have to change about this controversial company in any case.

The 33-year-old’s departure comes just three months after he described, in a since-deleted Tweet, controversial journalist Andy Ngo’s latest book as “important.” The musician was quickly in the firing line of what he has now described as “libellous” headlines and an onslaught of furious online commentary.

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A post shared by Winston Marshall (@winstonmarshall)

Reminiscing of his “exhilarating” time in the band, the banjo player made the revelation via a Medium post entitled “Why I’m Leaving Mumford & Sons.” He wrote: “At the beginning of March I tweeted to American journalist Andy Ngo, author of the New York Times Bestseller, Unmasked. “Congratulations @MrAndyNgo. Finally had the time to read your important book. You’re a brave man”. Posting about books had been a theme of my social-media throughout the pandemic. I believed this tweet to be as innocuous as the others. How wrong I turned out to be. Over the course of 24 hours it was trending with tens of thousands of angry retweets and comments. I failed to foresee that my commenting on a book critical of the Far-Left could be interpreted as approval of the equally abhorrent Far-Right.”

He continued: “I’ve had plenty of abuse over the years. I’m a banjo player after all. But this was another level. And, owing to our association, my friends, my bandmates, were getting it too. It took me more than a moment to understand how distressing this was for them.”

Citing cancel culture, Churchill and clarifying his controversial actions, the musician concluded that he will continue to speak and write on various challenging issues, as well as working with his non-profit organisation Hong Kong Link Up. “For me to speak about what I’ve learnt to be such a controversial issue will inevitably bring my bandmates more trouble. My love, loyalty and accountability to them cannot permit that. I could remain and continue to self-censor but it will erode my sense of integrity. Gnaw my conscience. I’ve already felt that beginning. The only way forward for me is to leave the band. I hope in distancing myself from them I am able to speak my mind without them suffering the consequences. I leave with love in my heart and I wish those three boys nothing but the best. I have no doubt that their stars will shine long into the future,” he wrote. 

The remaining members of Mumford & Sons, Marcus, Ben and Ted; wrote on Instagram: “We wish you all the best for the future, Win, and we love you man,” alongside a picture of the group posed on the bank of the River Hudson at Pier A Park in Hoboken, New Jersey. Meanwhile, fans have commented on their support and sadness at Marshall’s departure. 

Lovett has noticed the closure of many wonderful venues over the past few years due to lack of exposure and popularity in this new digital era – a time in which lesser known artists find it practically impossible to find space within the industry. These grassroots venues often hold huge amounts of talent and memories of world-famous bands or artists when they were starting out. There’s history there which is being ignored and forgotten. Lovett said “What we don’t have here, which some venues like the 100 Club do, is that Eric Clapton sweat on the walls – legendary stories of people that have played here”.

With a 600 person capacity, this venue is part of a larger space containing a food court and bar. The name of the space will be Lafayette, and the hope is that venues like this one will lay out a path for future headlining musicians. Artists with whom Lovett has played small venues in the past include Adele, Jamie T, and Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, all of whom performed to rooms of 200 people and now play to stadiums holding thousands.

In 2016, Lovett opened Omeara near London Bridge, which holds 325 people and has put on many successful gigs since then. Performers who have played there are Clean Bandit, Tom Odell, Jorja Smith, and Tom Walker, to name a few. This makes Lafayette the second venue which he has opened, under his company, Communion: a record label, publishing and promotion company. Venue Group is the name of the entrepreneurial venture; the next plan is to open an 8,000-seat amphitheatre in Alabama.

Ben Lovett is one of the founding members of popular band Mumford & Sons, in which he primarily plays keyboards, but also occasionally accordion, drums, guitar, percussion and backing vocals. The band has four studio albums and have been awarded two Brit Awards and two Grammys for their work. Starting out with a folk sound on songs such as ‘I Will Wait’, they have now taken on a more alternative folk-rock style in 2018 album ‘Delta’. Mumford & Sons have always loved and supported independent music, having grown up around it and been a part of it for such a long time.

‘Delta’, their latest release, reached number 2 in the UK charts and October 2019 saw a new single release, called ‘Blind Leading the Blind’. Could there be a new album on the way? The band has plans to play at Glastonbury and multiple other UK and US gigs this year, so either way, we’ll be hearing a lot of them. Lafayette will open in approximately 6 weeks and the acts will be announced very soon.

Featured Image taken by Kalyn Oyer.

Bring Me The Horizon will be taking to the stage on Friday the 31st of May 2019. The band have revealed that they are planning a special set, to mark their first headline festival slot, which will be longer and include rarities.

Supporting the band throughout the day will be a host of acts, with the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Leon Bridges and The Vaccines among the confirmed names so far. The following acts are also on the bill, on the 1st of June, and will be joining the already stellar line-up are Sam Fender, Jade Bird, Dermot Kennedy, and Dizzy.

Joining headliners, The Chemical Brothers, Friday the 24th of May, will be Hot Chip, Primal Scream, Jon Hopkins (Live), Spiritualized, Little Dragon, Peggy Gou (Presents Gou Talk), Róisín Murphy, Danny Brown, David August, Lane 8, Little Simz, Optimo, Ibibio Sound, Machine, Petite Noir, Maurice Fulton, Josey Rebelle, Ge-ology, and DMX Krew.

The following acts will be joining The Strokes, on Saturday the 25th of May, The Raconteurs, Interpol, Johnny Marr, Parquet Courts, Jarvis Cocker presents JARV is…, Courtney Barnett, Connan Mockasin, Anna Calvi, Bakar, The Nude Party, and Viagra Boys.

Christine and the Queens, will perform, on Sunday the 26th of May, along with James Blake, Metronomy, Maribou State, Kamasi Washington, Beach House, HONNE, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Princess Nokia, Ezra Collective, Toro Y Moi, Rina Sawayama, Bob Moses, Andrew Weatherall, Yves Tumor (Full band), Joy Orbison, Baloji, Cuco, Moxie (Presents On Loop), Octo Octa, Galcher Lustwerk, and Paquita Gordon.

Meanwhile, Bring Me The Horizon will joined by Architects, Run the Jewels, Nothing but Thieves, Idles, Alice Glass, While She Sleeps, Employed To Serve, Scarlxrd, and Yonaka, on Friday the 31st of May. Completing the line-up is Bon Iver, who will be joined, on Sunday the 2nd of May, by Mac DeMarco, First Aid Kit, John Grant, The Tallest Man On Earth, Julien Baker, Snail Mail, and Kokoko!

Tickets for this latest All Points East day will go on sale, on Tuesday the 26th of February 2019, at 9am, and can be purchased here. General sale tickets cost £65 plus booking fee, while VIP tickets start from £139.95 plus booking fee.

Delta – out November 16th via Gentlemen on the Road/Glassnote Records

Recorded at Church Studios in London with Paul Epworth, Delta is set to be “a moving collection of songs perhaps more intimate and expansive…than ever before” that “draws on the shared experience of being on and off the road”.

Coming ten years after their formation, the album will be the band’s first release since 2015’s  Wilder Mind, a pop-influenced record which saw the Mumfords dropping their classic folky-acoustic rhythms in favour of electric guitars and synthesisers.

In an interview with DJ Annie Mac, frontman Marcus spoke about the new release. “I think at the beginning [of recording] we kind of fell back in love with the old instruments we didn’t play on Wilder Mind like the acoustic stuff and the more folky instruments but [we were] conscious [of] how we can make these instruments sound not like these instruments, which opened up a whole new world for us.”

Just earlier today BBC Radio 1 took to Twitter to formally and officially announce the lineup for the festival:

Exeter, we hope you're ready! Ladies and gents, here is your #BigWeekend 2016 line-up https://t.co/yZvcLqLAI4 pic.twitter.com/bvKGeQox8O

— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) April 18, 2016

Spanning just a short two days over the course of a weekend, BBC Radio 1 have managed to pull some huge names out of the bag for the festival. This will be Mumford & Son’s first time performing at the festival, and band member Marcus Mumford had this to say on their thoughts on appearing:

“I’ve never been to Radio 1’s Big Weekend so we’ve got a lot of catching up to do… I wanna make up for it with five years worth of riders. We’re really excited, thanks for inviting us, it’s going to be great.”

Traditionally BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend is a bit different to usual festivals, as tickets for the music show are actually free, however availability is limited as the only official way to get your hands on a ticket is through BBC Radio 1 giveaways.

Here is the full list of confirmed acts below:

Mumford & Sons
Bastille
Jake Bugg
Chase & Status
Jess Glynne
Nick Jonas
Tom Odell
Sigma
Meghan Trainor
The 1975
Iggy Azalea
Catfish and The Bottlemen
Ellie Goulding
Kygo
OneRepublic
The Weeknd
Years & Years
Bring Me the Horizon
CHVRCHES
Craig David
Fetty Wap
Flume
Stormzy
Tame Impala
Twenty One Pilots
Biffy Clyro
Alesso
Alessia Cara
Jack Garratt
The Last Shadow Puppets
Panic! At the Disco
Skepta
Wolf Alice

The veteran singer walked away from the 59th edition of the awards this afternoon. Taking place in London, the ceremony also saw awards for Mumford & Sons (International Achievement), Tom Odell (Songwriter Of The Year) and James Blake (Best Contemporary song – ‘Retrograde’) amongst others.

On being presented with the award by Chrissie Hynde, Cave claimed “This is the one to get… We don’t really go to many of these awards evenings but we come to this one.” before thanking Warren Ellis, with whom he co-wrote the album, stating, “He taught me how to dispense with three chords and get it down to one.”

Here’s the full list of Ivor Novello Award Winners;

PRS For Music Most Performed Work – Passenger – ‘Let Her Go’

The Ivors Classical Music Award – John McCabe

Best Television Soundtrack – Ripper Street

Best Contemporary Song – James Blake – ‘Retrograde’

International Achievement – Mumford & Sons

Best Original Film Score – The Epic Of Everest

The Ivors Inspiration Award – Jerry Dammers

Album Award – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, ‘Push the Sky Away Written’

PRS For Music Outstanding Contribution To British Music – Jeff Beck

Best Song Musically And Lyrically – London Grammar, ‘Strong’

Songwriter Of The Year – Tom Odell

Outstanding Song Collection – The Chemical Brothers

Lifetime Achievement – Christine McVie

PRS For Music Special International Award – Nile Rodgers