Marcus Mumford Opens Up About Hitting 'A Version Of Rock Bottom' In 2019

Marcus Mumford has done a lot of soul searching in the past few years. In a new interview with SPIN, the Mumford & Sons frontman opened up about hitting "a version of rock bottom" before the pandemic.

"My life had changed significantly since the summer of 2019 when I hit a version of rock bottom," he said. "I’d quit booze, which had become quite a big part of my life. I quit before I absolutely had to, so I didn’t have to do 12-step stuff. I have huge respect for it and lots of friends engaged in it, and I totally believe in it, it just wasn’t necessary for me. I removed that medicator and started leaning into ice cream really heavily."

"I was able to use the songs to help me guide the way," Mumford added. "I’m acutely aware of how difficult the pandemic has been for so many people, but, for me, it provided a structure of routine, of connection with my family, of connection to place, which I hadn’t had since high school. That gave me the foundations and the safety to then start this process of writing the record."

He also spoke more about processing the trauma of being sexually abused in his youth, which was the catalyst for "Cannibal," the lead single on his just-released debut solo album (self-titled). "As a creative person, I think it’s natural to write songs as a way of processing and expressing what’s going on in your life internally," Mumford said of the song's origins. "It was an extension of the process and I’m not sure I’ll ever complete it. I’ve learned that it’s such a journey. It was a natural part of the process to write about it, and a healthy part of the process to then release it and still feels like a healthy part of the process to talk about it."

However, he does not want people to think the whole album is about trauma. "I chose to put 'Cannibal' first on the record and to release it first, but it’s not what the whole record is about," Mumford clarified. "It’s a record about freedom. It’s a record about healing. It’s not a record about trauma."