Mumford & Sons – Prizefighter

Only nine months after their official comeback album Rushmere, 2010s folk-indie darlings Mumford & Sons are ready for another round in the ring. If anyone was ever in doubt about their initial return after seven years out of the spotlight, the band’s latest sixth studio album, Prizefighter, proves a winning, solid next instalment, with a record that took a mere ten days to write. Exploring folk and bluegrass roots with new ideas and collaborators, it’s a comfortingly familiar but thoughtful catalogue that will please old fans with enough reinvigoration for any newcomers. This time, it’s co-written and co-produced with The National’s Aaron Dessner – the slightly more polished, intricately-layered approach is evident with every track. There is literally one called Begin Again; it is a statement to remind us that these are musical heavyweights and they are just getting (re-)started.

The acoustic guitars have a little more amp, the vocals are a little more mixed, but the signature wistful, rich harmonies that first made frontman Marcus Mumford world-famous alongside Ted Dwayne and Ben Lovett remain front and centre. There’s a surprisingly extensive range of guest additions in the open studio too, comprising nearly a third of the track listing, from millennial husky-toned wishlist Hozier and Chris Stapleton to newer Gen-Z standouts Gracie Adams and Gigi Perez. They successfully challenge with sublime layers and vocal edges without distracting from the Mumford sound. The album opens with Stapleton’s instantly-catchy Here whilst the satisfyingly soaring Rubber Band Man with Hozier has been making the rounds since October. Icarus is also a delicate highlight alongside Perez’s contrasting, rockier vocals, ebbing and flowing with a slight Americana twang.

The Banjo Song feels like an earnest throwback to earlier releases (although the banjos are a somewhat subtle callback), as well as more poignant Conversation with My Son, the album’s longest track, crescendoing with guitar-laced instrumentalisation, which will undoubtedly translate finely to festival stages and Run Together’s nostalgic production, almost like a modern hymn. Dessner’s influence is also clear: Alleycat could have effortlessly been part of Taylor Swift’s Dessner-produced Evermore, much like stripped-back Prizefighter with its defiant diary entry lyrics: “I don’t look back ‘cause I’m still here, still swinging high at the borderline…You should have seen me in my glory.”

Always in safe hands, Prizefighter isn’t exactly genre-defining nor boundary-pushing, but it does reignite a welcome sense of nostalgia with a fresh 2026 take. The release in quick succession means there’s no pressure to prove their modern-day relevance, nor bear too many immediate comparisons to their first-loved hits. Starting the year with a stomp before embarking on a world tour and headlining festivals such as BST Hyde Park in the summer, you can bet this is a band with a lot more energy yet to give.