The First Days of Spring is the new album from Noah & The Whale, and is one of the most beautiful records you will hear this year.  The album comes accompanied by a film, directed from the band’s lead vocalist Charlie Fink and starring model Daisy Lowe, which runs the length of the album. Both the album and film are filled with huge emotional power, complexity and impact. The album opens with the 7 minute long, epic title track, and sets the tone wonderfully.

The First Days of Spring – Noah and the Whale

The record is very downbeat, and I can’t emphasize this enough. The only upbeat moment in the whole record comes from ‘Love Of An Orchestra’, where Fink sings about how his love of music is equivalent to the love of another person. Songs ‘Blue Skies’ and ‘Slow Glass’ are very catchy and will stay with you long after the closing bars have faded into silence. Give this album a full patient listen and you will find a strong and artistic album that still offers melodically successful and viscerally moving folk-rock music.

Released 31^st August 2009.

By Sophie Stratford

Sophie Stratford is an up and coming music journalist. She writes gig reviews regularly for The Northern Echo. Her website with a collection of pieces she has written can be found here and she keeps a blogspot blog.

Sophie Stratford is going to start contributing a few pieces to Indie Music Finds so hopefully the blog won’t be as sparse as it has been as of late.