LOS ANGELES -- Bye, bye, banjo. Tremble for yourselves, Mumford & Sons fans.
The folk rock group, whose signature sound on Babel earned Album of the Year honors at the 2013 Grammy Awards, will ditch the acoustic formula in favor of electric guitars and synthesizers for the band's third studio album.
Mumford & Sons' publicist directed Mashable to Monday's Rolling Stone interview when asked to confirm the new sound and lyrical direction.
"None of us had really any interest in doing a sort of Babel 2," frontman Marcus Mumford told Rolling Stone, meaning you'll hear way less banjo, if any, and more electric guitars, drum machines and synths.
Hey, it worked out for Bob Dylan. Still, it's a big risk for the British musicians, who succeeded to the tune of a No. 1 album in the United States and United Kingdom with their sophomore album Babel as well as their debut Sigh No More.
Judgement day for the overall new sound is May 4, when Mumford & Sons' Wilder Mind album debuts in full. The group teased the new sound on Facebook:
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The news came as a shocker to many fans on Twitter, with people expressing their dismay, confusion, excitement and on-cue humor:
Mumford & sons is going electric. Snoop dog is going acoustic. What a time to be alive— maggie schoenig (@magilypuff) March 2, 2015
Mumford and Sons have gone electric?!? This is a hipster natural disaster. Stores will soon start running out of goat milk and herbal chai.— Emery Buterbaugh (@TheButer) February 28, 2015
Today will be remembered as the day Mumford & Sons went electric, or more likely, the day no one remembers at all.— sean oconnor (@seanoconnz) March 2, 2015
New Mumford and Sons album coming out.. Album is entirely banjo-free and has no typical acoustic guitars.. All electric. wtf happened?— Tucker Sutlive (@sutlivetucker) March 2, 2015
Mumford and Sons with electric guitars and no banjo petrifies me— Jack (@jack_mullens) February 27, 2015
Wow at Shia debuting the hottest rattail out on the same day Mumford & Sons go electric, incredible showdown, who will Carey Mulligan choose— Sam (@danceremix) March 2, 2015
Mumford & Sons going electric is like when Tesla went acoustic. It is literally just as important.— Eugene Mirman (@EugeneMirman) March 2, 2015
Mumford and Sons have gone electric and synthshy. Let the cries of "Judas!" begin. I can't wait to hear it though! Exciting. #wildermind— Andrew Patterson (@Andyru8165) March 2, 2015
*has Dylan flashback* RT @CoolQuest184: Mumford and Sons going electric. Let's see what happens.— Kokujin (@Kaibutsu) March 2, 2015
Actually, the brief clip of Mumford & Sons going electric sounded pretty good. We shall see.— Rob Slater (@RobSlater10) March 2, 2015
Yes, we shall see. We will wait, we will wait for your big risk, Mumford & Sons. But let's take a minute to remember the previous sound of the band you've grown to love or love to hate: