Marcus Mumford has said that he took on board advice from Neil Young while recording his debut solo album, properly considering the longevity of what he was creating.
“Neil Young sat me down about ten years ago and told me the importance of recorded music, and that I should pay more attention to the way in which we record”, he tells the NME. ”I was always , ‘Ah, it’s just an advert for a live show’. He was like, ‘No man, these things last'”.
“I felt like on this record, I listened to that ”, he continues. “I paid closer attention to the way it sounded than anything I’d ever done before”.
So, I don’t know if that means that all of Mumford & Sons’ albums were just thrown together without much thought. You can decide that for yourself.
In a wider interview with the website, he reflects on comments made by another songwriter about the process of making music, saying: “Sometimes, I think the best songs do just come out. Noel Gallagher talks about songwriting like you hold your hands out and you wait for what drops from the sky and if you don’t hold your hands out, then Bono or Chris Martin’s going to catch them”.
Surely they don’t get all of them. Maybe they do. Are Bono and Chris Martin hoarding all the truly great songs? And, if so, why don’t they put some of them out?
Mumford’s debut solo album, ‘(self-titled)’, is out this Friday.