When I was in high school, I was more or less depressed. I don’t know if it was clinical, but it was emotional enough to make me feel horrid a majority of the time. I took to listening to droning, straining, bleeding music. That is, music that made me either cry or put me in “a mood.” And by “a mood” I mean, I would listen to said music and walk around the house with a somber face and lost eyes. Music could affect me in ways nothing else could.
I became obsessed with chords and lyrics and the daydreaming I did as I listened to the music driving to school, or to work, or to dance, or back home at the end of the day. I couldn’t get enough of it, so I would listen to it in the shower, riding in the backseat of my parents’ car on the way to dinner or vacation or family visits. I even started falling asleep to it at night. I would keep myself awake for hours with my ears plugged, and my first year of college, I would walk around campus listening to my iPod on the way to class.
I stopped clogging my every waking (and sleeping) moment with music after a while. In fact, for a time, I even decided that music was annoying, and preferred driving in my car with nothing but the wind and tires humming in my ears. That, however, was a short phase, that maybe lasted a year, but probably not that long. Eventually, I decided I liked music again, and that was due in large part to my 21st birthday, which I spent with friends in Florida, hitting various dance clubs at City Walk. After that, I kept up with buying the latest dance hits. LMFAO, Lady GaGa, Pitbull, Britney, then Fun., The Wanted, Calvin Harris, David Guetta.
I have never considered myself much of a music buff, but it excited me to buy new songs by new artists whose instruments and sound systems rocked my ears, made me sing and dance around like a loon while driving, and whose lyrics would randomly burst from my mouth at any given moment. Then, I discovered Mumford & Sons. Now, before you ask, “You’re just now finding out about Mumford & Sons?” like my co-worker Craig did, I will say that I had noticed their first album on Amazon, had listened to a few of their songs, and kept meaning to buy Sigh No More for the longest time and would continuously forget. However, it wasn’t until the other day when my other co-worker, Kristen, said, “I am absolutely in love with Mumford & Sons right now,” that I remembered they had a new album out, and now would be just as good a time as later to buy their music. So, off to Wal-Mart I went to purchase an iTunes card, and later that evening, well, I bought all the Mumfords. There is something about them that reminds me of those somber days of my teenage years, but in a way less melodramatic and more honest and raw.
Their sound is both soft and intense, and while Craig says all of their music sounds the same, that’s actually what I like most about them. That could be bias and personal preference, though. Because I love the sound of their music, I’m okay with listening to song after song of similar beats and strums. And that banjo. Oh, I love it. Instead of feeling depressed when I listen to them, I feel uplifted and hopeful in the way that makes me want to drive out to the nearest field and run as fast as I can with my arms spread open to the sky. I listen to them loud. There is no listening to Mumford & Sons with the volume turned down low. They play the kind of music that requires their instruments and voices to fill your ears until you can feel it pulsing in your skin. That is why I’m obsessed with their music right now. When I hear them, I feel full.
