Mumford & Sons made their fourth appearance on Saturday Night Live with performances of two songs from their new album, Prizefighter.
The English folk rock band, who last appeared on the late night show in 2018 to help promote the album Delta, opened with “Rubber Band Man,” which features Irish musician Hozier and was co-written by Brandi Carlile. Hozier and co-producer Aaron Dessner of the National joined them on stage.
Prizefighter, Marcus Mumford said several months out from its release, was his favorite of the group’s albums thus far.
“It’s like we got to this stage in our careers where we’re comfortable in our skin now, and so we can talk straight,” Mumford, 39, told People Magazine. “And this is the straightest talking record I think we have. And so it’s the closest to the essence of who we are, honestly. And that’s why I love it so much, because it feels like representing that on record can be really hard and really challenging, and you can get most of the way to success. But there’s always edifice, I think, and this one doesn’t feel like it has much of that in it. It’s just f—ing us and our mates, and that’s what our band is.”
Co-founder Ted Dwane, 41, praised Dessner’s production work.
“Dessner, he just feels like a real ally,” the bassist said. “We’ve obviously been a fan of The National for a long time, and we met him and worked with him as we were preparing to make our third record, Wilder Mind.”
The group’s second song on SNL was the opening track to Prizefighter, “Here,” featuring Chris Stapleton. Joining them was Dessner and singer-songwriter Sierra Ferrell.
Prizefighter is Mumford & Sons’ second album in less than a year. Rushmere, released last March, was their first as a trio after guitarist and banjoist Winston Marshall left the band in part due to political differences with his bandmates.
Mumford & Sons are touring Australia and New Zealand in April before hitting North America in June, then Europe. The band will be back in the states through October, headlining Louisville, Kentucky’s Bourbon & Beyond Festival.