A fresh crisp page turns and a new chapter begins for Noah and the Whale with The First Days of Spring. A ‘pukka’ album from the Twickenham-English folk quartet opens old wounds, heals, and searches for closure. At the center is Charlie Fink’s genteel warble and the broken pieces of his heart, and what transpires is a passage through cold Stranger beds to verdant landscapes beneath Blue Skies, nursing back a man who collects himself again. His songs are his journal and a tutelage to those who empathize, but the melody though unassuming possesses all the grandeur of hope renewed, blustering a chamber filled with instruments. And yet, the wail is quiet and subdued in I Have Nothing and builds in My Broken Heart. But on its own bough, there are days or moments we have to slap on a fake smile and play a happy song to the throng because we secretly hope that by going through the motions we’ll kid ourselves, fool others, cheat our sorrow and auto-magically be giddy with joy. And that’s the feeling I get from Love of an Orchestra, with its boisterous ensemble and heartening chorus, but I could just be a sucker for wallowing, and that track could really be the turnaround point for Fink and his ark. And in the midst of the album, he promises (his darling Laura Marling), “This is the last song that I write while still in love with you.” And to the broken-hearted, he assures them, as well as himself, “You know in a year, it’s gonna be better. You know in a year, I’m going to be happy.”
Key Tracks: The First Days of Spring, Blue Skies, Stranger
Moods: Warm, Pastoral, Reflective, Intimate, Sentimental, Bittersweet
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