David Pollock: West London's favourite sons go global

FROM humble beginnings in 2007, at the forefront of a grassroots movement the press labelled the West London folk scene, Mumford & Sons took off at this year's Brit Awards.

Up against a seemingly unstoppable Take That, reunited with Robbie Williams for their latest album Progress, the 'Mummers' walked off with the Best British Album award for their debut Sigh No More.

Up until that point the group had enjoyed a modest start to their career, including a nomination for the 2010 Mercury Music Prize. Now they seem destined to join pop's premier league, with growing interest in the US being stoked by two Grammy nominations. Mumford & Sons are rare among fast-rising bands in that their musical appeal seems to far outweigh their candidacy as gossip column hype generators.

Their songs are hook-laden enough for the pop charts and possessed of the right brand of richness to attract crossover classic rock fans.

"Despite its racing banjos and keening mandolins," the NME remarked of the debut album, which was partly written while singer Marcus Mumford spent a year studying Classics at Edinburgh University, it's "basically an indie-pop record in chunky knit clothing."

Perhaps not so credibly, David Cameron is a big fan.

One inevitable litmus test will be the amount of imitators springing up around them, although Mumford & Sons have already brought their own scene with them - Johnny Flynn, Noah and the Whale and Laura Marling, Marcus's ex-girlfriend, all emerged from the West London scene.

Such patronage continues with their championing of Rachel Sermanni, a young Scots singer-songwriter.

• David Pollock is a music reviewer for The Scotsman.