On Feb. 20, 2026, legendary folk group Mumford & Sons released their newest album “Prizefighter.” The band, tackles themes of love, acceptance, pride and mercy, and is famous for composing beautiful arrangements, adding to the folk-rock canon.
For readers who are unfamiliar with the group, Mumford & Sons is a British folk band formed in 2007 consisting of Marcus Mumford, Winston Marshall and Ben Lovett. This album marks the sixth studio album from the musicians, consisting of 14 total tracks. Below, I will list each song and my thoughts on them.
Here (feat. Chris Stapleton)
This track started off the album strong, with upbeat and rhythmic elements adding to the overall feeling of the song. The track featured popular country singer Chris Stapleton, known for his powerful accented voice. The blend of Mumford’s rough and gritty inflections and Stapleton’s clean and projected voice converges to make an uncommon and engaging two-part harmony. The electric guitar portion of the song reengaged me into the track and tied the song together for me. One gripe I often have with Mumford & Sons music is the reuse of the chorus numerous times to the point of exhaustion. This addition of the guitar and the horns helped negate that craft-fully.
Rubber Band Man (w/ Hozier)
This song featured an unexpected collaboration with Irish musician Hozier. He was a great addition to the band, and I enjoyed his harmony with the other members. This song makes use of their trademark folk backing track to its fullest, as well as a clever and concise bridge. Another thing I loved about this song was the lyrics. Mumford & Sons, while not being religious explicitly, have many allusions to the Christian faith.
“I've kind of separated myself from the culture of Christianity,” Mumford said.
Despite this, Christian ideas are not fully done away with in their lyrics. One line says, “Dying to raise the dead.” I found this creatively profound and made a connection with the crucifixion.
The Banjo Song
The Banjo Song has a great intro that is simple and evokes a very positive air about it. The overall sentiment is uplifting saying “And hey, when you call, when you fall, when you need someone, I could be your someone.”
Run Together
I loved the rustic banjo melody that is used in this song. Despite its minimalistic approach, it goes a long way. Also, the three-part harmony used in this song is incredible. Lyrically, this song paints a vivid picture. I particularly enjoyed the imagery of a tiger lying in wait as it has the protagonist in its mouth. It was captivating and showed me more of the storytelling side of their music.
Conversation with my Son (Gangsters and Angels)
"Conversation with my Son" has beautiful imagery instilled in the lyrics. They sing, "we're all tumblers and beggars," which I found to be gospel correlated. The most interesting thing I found in this is the allusion to W.H. Auden's, As I Walked Out One Evening, which says, "You shall love your crooked neighbour with your crooked heart." I love this reference and it connects to the overall song well. The focus on lyrics for this song as opposed to the chorus-heavy nature of other songs in the album, is also appealing.
Alleycat
The melodic hook of Alleycat is masterful. It combines Mumford’s experiences with a deep narrative allegory to convey the idea of mortality and finitude on earth. In an interview with Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio, Mumford says, “Alley Cat, I wrote in a prison actually. I go into prison and do poetry workshops and that came out of one of those sessions with the lads.”
Prizefighter
For the title track, Mumford & Sons pulled out all the production stops to make this a beautiful song. I was fascinated by the call and response that Mumford has with the backing track and the linear nature that the song takes on. The harmonies in this song were also angelic.
Begin Again
Begin Again has great use of wordplay and meter. The rhythm of phrasing was engaging and playful, but this was overall a generic song that seemed like it was made to be a soundtrack to an Instagram reel showing mountains and waterfalls. To me, it was nothing special, but it had some interesting lines.
Icarus (with Gigi Perez)
This track was strong and had once again a unique backing track. The allusion to the mythology of Icarus was fun and was a good vehicle for the themes of youth-driven choices. Two things I loved were the gospel chorus used in the background and the exciting drum fills.
Stay
This track slows the album down with its raw acoustic sound and a standout vocal performance by Mumford. The lyrics were glorious and elevated the song to another level as one of the best tracks on this LP.
Badlands (Gracie Abrams)
This track was a surprisingly captivating one amongst the album. Featuring singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams, this song has masterful meter. The contrasting voices between the two singers were so sonically pleasing to me, and I hope to hear more of that in future albums. Something about the arrangement and the lyrics perfectly evoked the feeling of nostalgia and progress for a brilliant track.
Shadow of A Man
Despite not enjoying repetitive choruses, this song’s chorus was enjoyable enough for me to want to hear it more.
I’ll Tell you Everything
This song was strong in its confessional-esque lyrics, specifically with the hook. He sings, “I was bank robber, then I was Superman.”
Clover
This final track has a beautiful melody. Christian ideas reappeared to me as he sings, “Isn’t normality a treat.” There seems to be some irony that makes me imagine a man speaking to Christ in His incarnation. It really evoked condescension to me, and I loved it. It ultimately ended in the most beautiful harmony in the entire album.
Overall Thoughts
Prizefighter was a great album with excellently clean production. Despite the consistent use of vocal inflection and chorus repetition, the lyrics and composition make up for it completely. If I had to rate it, I would give this album a 7/10.
Photo provided by Roberta, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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