Mumford & Sons Ready To Relax After Long Tour

British folk band Mumford & Sons has had a busy and sometimes tumultuous year. Thanks to Sigh No More, the group has become something of a phenomenon; so when the guys put out a new album, Babel, last fall and scheduled a major tour through 2013, it was assumed the series of gigs would be a bit of a headache. That, however, turned out to be an understatement. The final tour was larger, longer, and more stressful than the four man group conceived it would be. The guys played their last scheduled show this week and are now settling down for a long hiatus.

This doesn’t mean that the guys in Mumford & Sons are breaking up, but it does mean that the guys deserve a break. Keyboardist Ben Lovett recently told Rolling Stone that he and his bandmates don’t know exactly how long the break will last, but they do know they need to have some time off to refocus and gain a little energy and perspective.

What Lovett isn’t mentioning is the fact that the band missed a few dates this summer after bandmate Ted Dwane was diagnosed with a blood clot in his brain that needed to be taken care of immediately. Jack Johnson stepped up and filled in for the group at Bonnaroo, and after a successful surgery, the band was up and running again. That serious event would be a reasonable explanation in and of itself for why a group might want to take a break, but there’s also the lengthy tour and two albums in three years to consider.

The guys say they haven’t had any real downtime since 2009, when Sigh No More popularized the group thanks to tracks like “Little Lion Man” and “The Cave.” Between the lack of downtime and Dwane’s health scare there was a lot to contend with. Combine those things with the fact that the guys began playing bigger venues on a regular basis in time slots that required them to perform for lengthier periods of time, and it's no wonder they're all a little beaten down at the moment. It’s easy to see why Mumford & Sons might require a break, one which will hopefully energize them and inspire them to head to the studio, once more. I just hope it doesn’t take too long for that to happen.