Mumford & Sons Blend with Hozier On “Rubber Band Man”
On October 24, 2025, Mumford & Sons released "Rubber Band Man," a highly anticipated collaboration with Hozier that delivers everything fans could have hoped for from this effortless pairing. The two first performed together in 2017 at Ireland’s Longitude Festival, and this proper studio track eight years later feels well worth the wait.
Mumford & Sons first teased the song in mid-September with an Instagram video featuring the lower half of someone that fans instantly recognized as Hozier. Over the following weeks, they continued to share snippets of live performances in various locations, from the Red Rocks dressing room to a local park and even an underground stairwell. Upon the song’s release, Marcus Mumford revealed that Brandi Carlile also contributed to the song, texting him a poem from a dream of hers that ended up forming the lyrics to one of the verses.
Recorded at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York with producer Aaron Dessner, "Rubber Band Man" combines Mumford & Sons' signature folk roots with Hozier's rich, soulful baritone to produce a gorgeous melody. The track opens with a soft guitar line that builds to a crescendo of instruments and soaring harmonies before returning to the gentle sound it started with. Hozier's verse carries his familiar poetic tone, and his delivery brings the perfect amount of emotion to the song. The song's title alludes to the Rubber Band Theory, the idea that men tend to cycle between craving closeness and needing space in relationships, and the lyrics capture this back-and-forth dynamic of loving someone who feels emotionally distant.
The timing of this release finds both artists at significant points in their careers. Earlier in October, Hozier wrapped up his massively successful Unreal Unearth tour, a run that spanned two years and eight months. Meanwhile, after releasing ‘Rushmere’ this past March, their first studio album in nearly seven years, Mumford & Sons are set to tour across Europe and the UK through the end of 2025.
Just days after the single’s release, the band announced that “Rubber Band Man” will lead their upcoming sixth album, ‘Prizefighter,’ out February 13, 2026, carrying forward the momentum they’ve built this year. The sixteen-track record will include collaborations with Gigi Perez, Gracie Abrams, and Chris Stapleton. Having recently performed the song live for the first time with Hozier on the Graham Norton Show, “Rubber Band Man” sets the tone for Mumford & Sons’ new chapter, capturing the energy and spirit that ‘Prizefighter’ promises to bring next year.