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The First Days of Spring

Noah & The Whale

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Album Review

Noah and the Whale's second album finds frontman Charlie Fink ruminating over his failed relationship with Laura Marling, a fellow songwriter (and former love interest) who played a key role in the band's debut. With music serving as his therapy, Fink fills The First Days of Spring with lush soundscapes and folksy melancholy, finding the beauty that exists in the neutral territory between both camps. This is a cinematic album, one that's meant to be heard in conjunction with its accompanying film (also titled The First Days of Spring, available as part of the album's deluxe edition), and the track list unfolds in appropriate blockbuster fashion. Several tracks set the scene, others advance the plot, and two instrumental pieces serve as gorgeous transition pieces. Laura Marling is nowhere to be found, of course — her split with Fink has essentially turned Noah and the Whale into an all-male group — yet her influence permeates the album, from Fink's disillusioned lyrics to the band's vacillations between elated anthems and intimate, disconsolate ballads. Heartbreak can tear a songwriter to shreds, but it serves the opposite purpose here, lending a sense of vulnerability to Fink's baritone and adding some much-needed drama to the band's music, which previously concerned itself with twee-styled progressions and summery melodies. Noah and the Whale has officially grown up.

Customer Reviews

Epic, brilliant, beautiful second album.

I was counting down the days until the release of this album and have certainly not been disappointed! The first single, Blue Skies promised the beautiful, heartfelt melodies of the band's debut album, but better and I am thrilled to say 'First Days of Spring' has delivered. Despite a less than warm reception from an unappreciative crowd at Reading (yes folks, Noah and the Whale had more than one song on their first album, and they were damn good.) I found their set, mostly comprising of their new material, to be my favourite of Reading by far. (off topic slightly, Doug Fink's passionate drumming was certainly a highlight of the set, it put a smile on my face!)
The lyrics are to be commended, too, a great depth of personal meaning and experience can be felt, yet they retain that universal relevance that I think enable any listener to see a part of themselves in each song.
In short, the album is brilliant and it's been on repeat on my iPhone ever since I bought it.
I would reccommend Blue Skies or Slow Glass for first time
listeners, and I really look foward to seeing Noah and the Whale breaking into the mainstream charts with their heartfelt, addictive indie-folk melodies.

The First Days of Spring

I have a perverse love of break-up albums that started ever since my first heartbreak three or four years ago. Happy enough as I am now, the music that I listened to to fuel my pain rather than heal it had a profound effect on me, and I keep on returning to said music every so often. 'Blood on the Tracks' is the high point, untouchable. But this century I have found two brilliant albums that will live me for a long time: Jaymays 'Autumn Fallin' and 'First Days of Spring'. Great vocal delivery with some beautiful playing. What makes this record special is that it seems obvious that the rest of the band are supporting the singers heartache with soft, tender arrangements, almost womb-like in their warmth. I can hear their support on the record, which is amazing. I have since learned that it is indeed the singer who has suffered the break-up, which makes the record magical. They probably won't make another record like this, and I wont buy it (I avoided their first one like the plague). But 'First Day of Spring' has earned it's place with Dylan for when I need it most.

Great album

This is a really great album and band, just I have found although the songs are good, they didn't quite live up to expectations of this band. blue skies is probably the only one that actually stands out as one of their better songs, apart from that, the songs on their previous album are better

Biography

Formed: 2006 in London, England

Genre: Alternative

Years Active: '00s, '10s

Noah and the Whale became a leading light in the British folk scene with the release of 2008's Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, a popular debut album that cracked the U.K. Top Ten and spawned the hit single "5 Years Time." Formed in the southern suburbs of London, the band also attracted attention by serving as a launching pad for Laura Marling, who left the lineup to 2008 to launch her award-winning solo career. Noah and the Whale forged...
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