Mumford & Sons EP Launch - 7th July, Luminaire, Kilburn

How much do I love Mumford & Sons? Enough to share this with you: "I almost wish I were gay, or a teenage girl, so I'd have an excuse to put posters of you guys all over my walls, I think you're that great". Yes, not content with just saying 'that was awesome', those were the subsequent words poor Marcus Mumford had to endure from me at the end of the gig. There's probably a restraining order winging its way through the courts as I write this, and a blacklist to every future gig. I hope not, as there's nothing I like more than being there to listen to and review them. They should really be called Midas & Sons as everything they do is pure solid gold.

Where to begin? Tonight's event at the lovely Luminaire, is the EP Launch night for Mumford & Sons debut release, and such is the buzz around these guys that its been sold out well in advance. I've even heard rumours of people selling their kidneys to get hold of a ticket. I don't think that's true, actually. I'll come clean - I just made it up. But if they carry on at this rate, it won't be far off happening.

For a band still only in the first year of their creation, they rival, and even surpass, anything you could think of from any grandmaster of folk-acoustic heritage.

Friends and "musical family" appear to be very dear to their hearts, evident on the recent River Rat Pack Tour, and present again this evening with some very talented friends opening the evening.

From Jesse Quinn & The Mets gently lifting the vibe for the already packed venue, through the humorous poetic interludes of Derek Meins, to Davie Fiddle & The Egg rousing folk, the atmosphere and expectation increased all night long. A very special friend was on hand too, with Laura Marling being a surprise addition to the bill, and promptly accorded the politeness of reverential silence for the fragile sweetness of both herself and her songs during a brief three song set. Needless to say, the silence was replaced with thunderous applause at the end of each song.

But what about the party hosts themselves, the band we were all there to see? From the moment the doors opened, the place has been packed, with a hip, expectant crowd, rooted to their various spots to secure their place ready for the band to take the stage. To anyone who knows me they should sit down before reading this...even I didn't go and get another drink in the interval. That's right. Glued to the spot and frightened stiff I'd lose my place in the swell.

You can give Mumford's music any label you like - folk, country, roots, bluegrass, acoustic - but it's all academic. The songs live and breathe; the sound travels through your ears, grabs a hold, and dances around inside of you. Everyone is singing along, and every song is welcomed with a knowing 'oo I love this one' cheer. This is why they are so good, because there's not a duff moment in their sets or song in their portfolio. This to me, is soul music in its purest, barest form. And the words? Majestic. Single lines in each song encapsulate more emotional scale and heartfelt description than many whole novels can. The lyrics so beautifully phrased, one song can take you through despair to hope to unbridled love to frustration in the space of 4 minutes - opening up its musical arms wide and inviting, wrapping us all in a hug so warm you feel it vibrating in your soul. It's impossible not to be awoken and exhilarated by the feeling they invoke. On record – or should that be mp3 in this digital age – they are sublime. But live, well it's the difference between imagining something and actually feeling it firsthand, all those reactions and tingles that you get.

For me, 'White Blank Page' still chokes me every time and tonight is even more vivid, with the additional strings and backing, the thumping rhythm opening up midway through the song like a fist slammed on the table during a passioned monologue. 'Awake My Soul' is darkly jaunty, and 'Liar' is achingly beautiful, inducing lamentful backing en mass from everyone in the room, sharing the sentiment. Even a ho-down is not beyond them or us, stomping on demand to the puppeteers' country-string pulling, as the floor threatens to be smashed through to the basement.

I could go on, but I'll only end up rolling out the clichés even more. Suffice to say that there are several hundred sweaty, smiley, happy people demanding an encore, and leaving with a fire in their hearts and appointment with their mp3 players the next day.

So, are they worth going to see? Without a doubt.

Will you walk away as satisfied and warm as if you'd just had a large brandy, been caressed with velvet and hugged tightly? Undoubtedly.

Will you be singing their songs for weeks on end and go to see them again? Absolutely.

Marks and Spencer's got there first with the slogan, but I think its time to paraphrase it for another M &S who are soon to capture the nations love ".....this isn't just music. This is M & S music."