Mumford & Sons Unleash New Single 'I Will Wait' (Audio)

Courtesy SXSW

Mumford & Sons have released the first official single from their forthcoming sophomore album, Babel, which arrives Sept. 25.

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If the song, "I Will Wait," is a teaser of what's in store for the record as a whole, then fans of the British folk-rockers should certainly be satisfied: the group's signature country-folk-banjo sound is on full display along with frontman Marcus Mumford's gritty, exuberant voice. (Listen to the lovestruck lyrics, and ponder whether the track was inspired by actress Carey Mulligan, whom he married last April.)

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Mumford & Sons have performed the song during their summer "Gentleman of the Road" tour of the U.K. and the U.S. Babel includes 11 other new songs (see the track list here) and is by Markus Dravs, who helmed their multi-platinum 2009 debut Sigh No More.

"We had started writing new songs well before we got into the studio to record," the band said last month after announcing Babel's release. "At first, we peeled ourselves off the road quite reluctantly. We love playing live, obviously, but it had also become an important part of our creative process, we had been writing and rehearsing in soundchecks, and sort of 'road-testing' new songs on our very gracious audiences. But then we fell in love with recording again."

Check out the audio of "I Will Wait" below, and sound off in the comments.