Mumford & Sons

Yes, the dude handling lead vocals is Mumford (Marcus Mumford, to be exact), and no, the guys filling out the four-part harmonies behind him aren’t his sons—but they’re keyed into Mumford’s pastoral folk in a manner that suggests familial ties all the same. The quartet approaches the melancholia of its full-length debut, Sigh No More, so earnestly, it’s like it’s still stomping the floorboards of the last pub it stormed out of in a fit of heartbroken catharsis. If Mumford’s self-lacerating lyrics tell the truth, he and his bandmates have had their share of both rotten love and booze, and these straightforward, blood-simple laments are the best group therapy they’ve found. The masses are buying it, too—The singles “Little Lion Man” and “The Cave” tore up alt-rock radio. 

Updated 06/01/2011