Mumford & Sons' signature folk sound was born out of necessity.
Marcus Mumford
The 'Little Lion Man' group - made up of Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane - was criticised for the stylish departure with both 2015's 'Wilder Mind' and brand new album 'Delta'.
However, frontman Marcus told The Guardian newspaper that they simply wrote their early material on the road "with whatever we had to hand".
He explained: "Most of the time, what we had to hand were acoustic instruments."
The apparent shift sparked outrage with purist fans, and the band has had to deal with online trolls trashing their sound.
Responding to the hate, the singer added: "Anyone who says they don't read their own press is completely bulls***ting.
"I read something on Twitter recently that said: 'I have it on good authority that the guys from Mumford & Sons are complete ****s'.
"I kind of wanted to know: who's the authority?"
Meanwhile, the band's latest album - which was released today (16.11.18) - takes a lyrical direction inspired by the fact they're growing older and settling into adult life.
Marcus has two children with actress Carey Mulligan - whom he married in 2012 - while Ben's divorce from long time partner Jemma Janney inspired his contributions to the record.
Mumford explained: "It felt for a while as if we'd been cruising down the river-lands in various ways - especially on tour.
"It's like a bubble... [Coming home felt like] moving from shelter to the wild. We decided to call the album 'Delta' for that reason."
Tagged in Mumford and Sons Marcus Mumford