M&S (and it is an unfortunate abbreviation) are not a band who might suddenly recant their acoustic ways and seek out some dubstep fettling. In America, roots music is a huge force that rivals the pop economy the US clasped this wholesome foursome in a particularly enthusiastic bear-hug, out of which popped two Grammy nominations.ДЄs a result, the follow-up album bears a heavy yoke of expectation, one lightened with the sure bet of M&S's constancy. And that one of their number вЂ“ Mumford & Sons вЂ“ would, by 2012, have sold over 5m copies of their debut album, Sigh No More, snared a Brit, and become, after Adele, the UK's must-have new musical export.

That might help explain why Mumford & Sons have become one of the beleaguered music industry's good news stories.Д¬ertainly, few would have predicted back in 2006 that Mumford banjo player Winston Marshall's raggle-taggle folk night вЂ“ Bosun's Locker вЂ“ would give rise to a clutch of well-regarded artists like Johnny Flynn, Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale.

W hich came first, the fashion for urban 20-year-olds to wear brogues and waistcoats or the success of rustic British pop? It's hard to tell, since a general brownness has been ubiquitous for the past half-decade in a period when British fashion and music have been cross-pollinating to the gain of both.

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