Noah and the Whale - The First Days Of Spring

After achieving success with a solid debut album (Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down) and providing a soundtrack to the summer of 2008 in ‘Five Years Time’, Noah and The Whale return with a remarkable follow up album. Remarkable not only in the superior quality of the lyrics and music but also in comparison to the tone of the group’s first effort, released just 12 months ago. The intervening year has been turbulent for lead singer Charlie Fink – a period during which his relationship with Laura Marling ended (Marling featured on Noah and The Whale’s debut album) and it is this event which frames the 11-track release.

The world is now a different place for Fink and his music. The youthful exuberance that seeped from Peaceful…. has been replaced by melancholic introspection. And the vocals which were notable for the blend of male and female harmonies have been replaced by the lone sound of Fink’s fragile vocals. The First Days of Spring opens with the title track which is Sigur Ros-like in its use of a swirling string section building above the solemn beat of a lone drum. Even at this point, we might expect Fink to be contemplating a new beginning and the opening lyrics suggest as much (“It’s the first days of spring & my life is staring over again”) but just as he proclaims “I’ll be bigger and stronger than ever before”, he relapses to thoughts of what he has lost - “I’m still here hoping that one day you will come back”. And this is the dilemma which Fink faces throughout the album – he wants to move on but constantly finds reasons to look back. There’s a pain in his voice, that of a man who is constantly trying to find a way out but consistently sucker punched just as he sees the light.

The record captures the essence of his feelings and this is no better demonstrated than on ‘My Broken Heart’ where he struggles to get out the right words above a beautifully composed string section. However, this track is swiftly followed by the centrepiece of the album and Fink’s salvation, an uplifting 3 tracks which flow together with ease. ’Love of an orchestra’ is bookended by instrumental tracks and it’s at this point we know that like many a musician before him, Fink will be ok – he has solace in his music (“I know I’ll never be lonely / I’ve got songs in my blood”). The entire record is extraordinary in its frankness and allows us to see a magnificent lyricist in action. The pity for Fink is that it came from such a dark place, the pity for us that it will be hard to recreate work of this standard.