By Nick May ’13                                                                                                                                          

THE ROUNDUP

Faith in America’s musical taste was restored when Mumford & Sons new release “Babel” topped Justin Bieber’s album “Believe” selling more than 200,000 more copies in its first week than the pop sensation’s album.

“Babel” also surprisingly had the best opening of any album in 2012, according to Billboard.com.

Mumford & Sons are an indie-folk band out of London who saw huge success with their first album “Sigh No More.”

“Sigh No More” sold more than 2.5 million copies in the United States alone and Mumford & Sons had a lot to live up to with their second album. They lived up to the hype with the Sept. 25 release of “Babel.”

“Babel” is an example as to why Mumford & Sons could be one of the best bands of this generation. Many of the songs on the album could be argued as the best song of the collection.

The first song on the album comes out swinging. With upbeat instrumentals and typical Mumford and Sons’ poetic lyrics, “Babel” impressed me completely.

First impression shows that “I Will Wait” is the most popular song on the album sitting at No. 31 on iTunes.

Like the song “Babel,” “I Will Wait” is an upbeat, banjo heavy tune that will have you singing it in your head for the rest of the day. The rest of the album includes more of the fast-paced folk mixed in with the slower paced love songs like “Lovers Eyes” and “Where Are You Now.”

Mumford & Sons did not stray far from the sound of their first album and have drawn some criticism from people. Many of the complaints I have heard about “Babel” is that all the songs on the album sound the same as the songs on “Sigh No More.”

These critics may have a point. Many of the songs sound strikingly similar to the earlier hits.

“Babel” gives the feeling that it is just the second half of “Sigh No More” and that Mumford & Sons just forgot these songs on the first album.

For me though, I have no problem with the albums sounding similar. I loved “Sigh No More” and already love “Babel.”

The key to Mumford & Sons’ great music is that you can tell that they really invest themselves in the music in hopes to create something beautiful and not for the sake of making money. By doing so, they make some of the most inspiring music of this generation.