Make no mistake…the Mumfords have the upper hand here. They aren’t trying to feed the hungry…they’re trying to remind people that the dull pain they feel in their guts can be satisfied if they don’t lose heart.

One more in the name of love,

Climacus

But true, there is a deep yearning in us to find something that touches the divine. We want meaning. We long for the sacred in a mundane routine world. Like relics of saints, we want to discover the sacred and keep it as close to us as possible.

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. “

I doubt Sinatra was forlorn over a summer love for a year.

As for folk music specifically, most folk songs are sung by people who didn’t write them. Where’s the authenticity in that?

Sometimes people write and perform deeply personal songs that we love, and sometimes people channel other things into their songs. I mean, do we need to delve into the authenticity of 1960′s white rock and roll?

If a song moves you, it ought to make little difference if the singer’s words and the band’s music come from personal experiences or conviction. Lost in all this discussion about what is “historical and committed” is the question: Is it enjoyable? A lot of people seem to think so.

II – You criticize Mumford’s musical stylings because they do not demand a public or existential commitment from listeners. In 2009 you upbraided National Review for making the mistake of “claiming that while art may be important, the message matters a great deal too” and praised Eric Rohmer for an artistic treatment of “gender, sex and love free of irony or politics.” Have your views on artistic expression changed since then, or do you have some other basis for distinguishing your criticism of Mumford from your prior comments?

III – When you listen to Beethoven’s 5th, what sort of public or existential commitments do you find yourself required to make?

IV – On what grounds do you distinguish the vague religious and historical references in Eliot’s The Wasteland from the vague religious and historical references in Mumford’s lyrics? Or do you think The Wasteland is a kind of poetic Pinterest?

I mean, good for them for being a popular and competent band that is decent and educated and properly motivated in many ways. I don’t happen to think that it’s great music, and I think Chris gives good reasons for that judgment. On the other hand, not everything has to be great. Good things are still good even if they aren’t great.