Noah And The Whale

We fall in love. Break up. Then move on. Or in the case of Charlie Fink, lead singer of Noah and the Whale, you write an album eulogizing the entire affair. The First Days of Spring envelops the listener into songs of heartbreak, hopelessness, relapse and finally renewal. Strings exuding sorrow on the title track with blasts of horns representing forged happiness eventually steer toward the regret of a one-night stand as detailed in “Stranger.”

The indie folk style of the band melds well with its pairing of orchestral elements; the strength of the album lying in the music’s unique ability to convey the deepest of sentiment, even when no words are sung. Though some listeners may be jarred away from the tranquility of the moment by Fink’s sometimes overly repetitive and simple lyrics, Noah and the Whale have created a breakup album worth a long, heavy listen.