Seven years after the last album and four years after Winston Marshall departed under a cloud, Marcus Mumford has put the rest of the ‘Sons’ back together.

Mumford and Sons occupy a rare corner of the huge sized band world (and they are a huge band, they headlined Reading Festival in 2015 and on their return have instantly been brought in as headliners of Radio Ones Big Weekend for this year). However, like Coldplay and Nickelback they seem to attract an equal weight of loathing to balance the huge amount of love and respect from their fans. If you are reading this, you are likely either a fan or curious. If you are not – you are not going to find anything else here to change your mind.

The build up to this album has been sudden and rapid, just two singles preceding it a short time before the album release. There is no room here for the 2024 collaboration with Pharrell, ‘Good People.’ Those two singles were both very classic Mumford and Sons. ‘Malibu’ builds from a quieter start into a more assured, rousing chorus. Title track ‘Rushmere’ is right up there with ‘Little Lion Man,’ ‘I Will Wait,’ and ‘The Cave.’ This former Reading Indie Life Single of the Week is a gloriously up-tempo ride with a full banjo accompaniment during the wonderful choruses.

Given those two singles the rest of the album seemed fairly promising. It is something of a shame that nothing else here matches up to either of those tracks. Nothing is that bad, but equally nothing stirs you the way ‘Rushmere’ grabs hold and gets you tapping along. ‘Monochrome’ is slightly worthier but a low-key effort. Several of the tracks are fairly lethargic, neither working as effective ballads or character pieces. Whilst the comeback was worth it for ‘Rushmere’ alone the overwhelming feeling is that it would have been nice if they had spent a bit longer on polishing up the weaker efforts. Mumford and Sons are touring extensively though most UK tickets sold out within an hour of being released.