You may remember the group Noah and the Whale from last year – the song “Five Years Time”, featuring the ever-gorgeous lady Laura Marling, was somewhat of an indie scene hit and their sparse twee poppery got to #5 in the UK charts in the full length form. I, like surprisingly many as I have observed lately, never really got into the album; twee pop of all sorts is a very hit and miss kind of thing and in this case it somewhat missed me, whilst being an alrighty nice album and all.

Between that album and the present day, things changed – while I can’t find any accurate info, several fingers seem to point to the direction of the end of frontman Charlie Fink’s romantic relationship. Almost out of nowhere Noah and the Whale return with a new full-length only a year after the last one, but this time it brings forth a sudden surprise change in sound. The self-assured winks and dry happy-go-lucky singalongs are nowhere to be seen. The sound is minimal and the atmosphere has changed into something sitting between the border of bittersweet and melancholy. Most importantly, the heart of the album turns out to be the heartbreakingly poignant lyrics about the dissolution of a romance that are always ready to stab like a knife to one’s heart.

The First Days of Spring has a misleading title; its release date is a far better indicator of its sound. This is rainy day music, suited perfectly to waltz in time with the falling multicolour leaves of autumn. Warm, intimate sounds, mainly consisting of contemplative guitar melodies and slow beats, beg for a headphone treatment. It’s created with sparse instrumentation but manages to sound almost lush at times due to excellent arrangements. The music however never falls to depressing: it’s everpresently sad, but never feels hopeless and carries more of a romantic melancholy to it. Things get moody but they never drown in the Swamps of Sadness, an upbeat note or tone is always ’round the corner to give a glimpse of hope. The centrepiece happiness suite of “Instrumental 1″ and “Love of an Orchestra” takes a full step away from the rest of the album by giving a joyous, choir-filled and thoroughly optimistic interlude, while “Blue Skies” gives an encouraging smile and a nod later on in the album.

The final touch are the lyrics. The First Days of Spring is a concept album, arching through the aftermath of departing from someone you madly loved. The title track starts the album with a declaration of getting better and hoping to win the heart of the former lover again, all the while the music plays out mournfully as if to almost mock the narrator. Soon the narrator begins to fall into hopeless desperation, quiet agony and pessimistic acceptance of being all alone again and how he’ll never be the same again. Halfway through the album you get the “Love of an Orchestra” suite mixed with two instrumentals, signaling a change in how the narrator sees the world, which the rest of the album builds on. Like “Stranger” puts it, “you know in a year it’s gonna be better/you know in a year I’m gonna be happy”.  “Blue Skies” waves goodbye to old feelings (”this is the last song that I write while I still love you”) and by the end of the album, the initial feeling of the narrator blaming himself and his flaws for everything has turned into the complete opposite; the final two tracks are almost scornful and cold in their dismissal of the past lover as the narrator finally begins to live life free of his sadness again. All this is told in touching, intimate lines that are instantly relatable and understandable in their directly human nature. As an additional flavouring you have the recurring theme of spring and its symbolism of rebirth and beginning of new life, the emergence of warmth after a season of cold, that is used to great extent to describe the situation throughout the album. The lyrics become the album’s center core, the emotionally poignant heart that gives it its special breath of life and turns it from a beautiful moodpiece into something enchanting and seizing.

Don’t let the title fool you or past hit songs deter you. The First Days of Spring is one of this autumn’s essential listens.

MP3: The First Days of Spring

Tags: noah and the whale

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 7:44 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.