I must admit that Noah and the Whale intrigued me right from the start of their career. They first drifted over the horizon and onto my radar with the insidiously catchy single, 5 years time. We are talking about the spring of 2008, gentle reader, and these were the days before nu-folk ruled the musical landscape like it does now, before the nations coffee tables were burdened by albums by Laura Marling (More of which later), The Lumineers, Ben Howard and, of course Bumford & Sons (I'm sorry, I promised I would try and be mature when referring to this execrable bunch of buffoons, I must try harder). Noah and the Whale, therefore, sounded somewhat out of place and this was an impression confirmed by the arrival of their debut album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down. They certainly didn't sound anything like the "Landfill Indie" that was all over the gaff at the time (Scouting for Girls, Pigeon Detectives, Fratellis, Hoosiers, step forward, take a bow and then bugger off out of it!). On the first few listens,it sounded like a twee Arcade Fire (If such a thing can be imagined).
Anyway I then learnt that Charlie Fink (And frankly that is a GREAT name!), the lead singer and main songwriter was going out with the lady who provided many of the backing vocals for the album, Laura Marling and apparently both Noah (plus, presumably, Whale) and Laura were prominent among the burgeoning (A word much used by music journalists to describe something that they claim is about to be very popular but you have never heard of) "nu folk" scene.
Now, lovely people, this came as a large shock to me. I had never had heard of said scene (probably because it was "burgeoning"). Furthermore, the whole concept puzzled me because the idea that these young folk (Dreadful pun intended) thought they were going to make a few bob out of folk music was beyond ludicrous. Now at this point I must state that I will freely admit that I am a bit of a fan of certain types of folk music (A subject I will no doubt return to in future blogs). However as far as the vast majority of the British Public were concerned I thought that the word "Folk" conjured up other words such as "Hey Nonny Nonny", "Beards" "Wooly Jumpers" "Fairport Convention" and "Songs about Death", none of which lead one to the conclusion that there was a lucrative career in making this sort of music, "nu" or otherwise.
Then things started to happen...well for Laura they did in any case. Her debut album, "Alas I cannot Swim" (Nasty people such as R.Marsh thought it should have been called "Alas I cannot Sing") was nominated for the Mercury Prize. It was a busy time in Laura's life because she split up with Charlie and started to going out with one Maurice Mumford, the somewhat portly singer of Dumford and sons (No still can't do it), who were also part of the "nu folk" massive (only obviously at this time they were still playing venues the size of toilets along the M25 corridor rather than being the stadium eating behemoths that they are now).
All well and good for Ms Marling. However, Charlie was absolutely devastated. Heartbroken he retreated to Chez Fink to pen the songs that would become the second Noah and The Whale album "The First days of Spring". There have been few albums that have been less appropriately titled "The First and, frankly, all of the days of Winter" would have been more accurate as this was a gloomfest from start to finish! Laura had clearly left a considerable mark of Charlie because this was the work of a broken man. The music critics absolutely loved the thing. Cleaners in music journalist's offices were using mops to clean up the frothing for weeks. Just as an aside, though, I wonder how many of them have listened to it since. I bought it, played it once and now its gathering dust next to Jim Noir and the Noisettes in my CD rack. Heartbreak is, sadly, part of life but unless you are the kind of person who thinks that "Blood on the Tracks" by Bob Dylan is a party record, the albums it inspires are usually unlistenable old bobbins.
Charlie then vanishes to cry into his beer. Meanwhile the nu folk scene gathers considerable momentum. Marlings's second album "I Speak Because I Can" gives her her second Mercury Prize nomination (And me, tinnitus) and then her lover Maurice's band, Scumford & Sons (I just can't do it, I'm sorry) release their debut album "Sigh no more". Initially it receives a resounding "Meh!" from the British public. But then something strange begins to happen (Well it was strange to me), very gradually the thing started to sell and sell and sell and...well you get the idea...until it was, almost literally everywhere. It was the 2010 equivalent to the Lighthouse Family, The Corrs and Shania Twain, the sort of bland, soulless dreck that everyone who never usually bought records buys. And behold, nu folk burgeoned no more, it had arrived, it was the dominant musical form (hem hem), no festival was complete without it (Indeed this is still the case with Numford (Not even amusing) and Sons headlining Glasto).
Which, as 2010 drew to a close, begged the thought, surely this was the time for Noah and The Whale to go massive? After all, they as good as started this whole thing. All they needed to do was produce...well "Sigh No More" 2 and they were in the money (Literally). Obviously that depended on Charlie having gotten (Is that a word?) over Laura but it had been a year and there was gold in them thar "nu folk" hills.
Now I was (sadly) not in the offices of Mercury Records when Charlie and the lads wandered in to let the assembled execs to have a listen to the third Noah and the Whale album "Last Night on Earth" but I can gladly picture the shock on the suits faces as what tumbled out of the speakers appeared to be, not "Sigh No More 2" but bizarrely the album that Tom Petty should have recorded after "Into the Great Wide Album" in 1991!! Now Sir Thomas is affectionately regarded by men of a certain age and there is no doubt that he has penned many a fine tune. However, I am struggling to think of any successful ENGLISH band who has suddenly decided that he was going to be their main inspiration. After all Petty's music conjures up images of the Wide Open Road, of the Endless Highway and so on and so forth. England , meanwhile, is the land of GRIDLOCK, of roadworks and the M25!
As "Waiting for my Chance to Come" filled the room, I can imagine that the pencil pushers thought "Well your chance has come, Finky, and now it's gone again because this album is going to die on it's backside!". Nu folk it certainly wasn't. However, they reckoned without two things a) The true perversity of the British record buying public and b) The quality of the tunes (In my humble opinion "L.I.F.E goes on" and the afore mentioned "Waiting for my Chance to Come" are two of the finest singles in recent years). The album went on to become a platinum seller and the introverted Fink seemed to mutate into a rock star on the live circuit (I saw them at the Roundhouse and he was clearly having a great time). The joie de vivre that both the album and the live shows captured seemed to represent a Giant two fingers to Maurice and Laura (who had split up themselves). Charlie, Noah and Whale 1 Nu Folk Goons 0.
Anyway time passes (And more of that in a minute) as it must and here we are in 2013 and Noah's career takes another turn with the release of their 4th album "Heart of Nowhere". Having been thrown a curveball by "Last Night on Earth", the bureaucrats at Mercury must have been worried that they would be confronted by "Noah the Drum N Bass" album or "Noah and the Whalesong". So they must have been relieved to receive an album that certainly appeared to have been made by the same band that made "Last Night on Earth". What was less welcome is that the album has received a commercial shooing. It went in the soaraway Top 40 album chart at a frankly underwhelming No 13 and, as I type, is currently plummeting down the charts like the previously referred to Whale jumping off a Divingboard!
And so we (At last, I am sure you are saying) come to the point of this post! Once again, I fear that the British Record Public has erred. Oddly, this is not the first time this happened. Cast your minds back to 1991 when they made "Stars" by Simply Red the best selling album of that year. Scowl as you recall 1986 when the best selling single of the year was "The Lady in Red" by Chris Burgh. Howl as you realise that the best selling album in 1995 (The height of Britpop) was NOT "What's the Story Morning Glory" by Oasis but rather it was the debut album by Robson and Jerome!
It would appear that either the British Record Public has moved onto Michael Buble, Bastille and Caro Emerald or they have lazily gone "Oh Last Night on Earth 2! Already got that" Well, anyone who is reading this is part of the Record Buying Public and I appeal to you, I am on my knees, I have rent my garments (Perhaps I need to stop there, unpleasant images are being conjured up), please give this album a try. I appreciate that my taste can be dodgier than a three week old kebab but this is a very fine record indeed and is by some distance Noah and The Whale's best record.
There seems to be some debate amongst the critics as to whether Charlie has gone "Ooh Last Night on Earth made me some moolah so I'll make another one" or if this is the kind of band they've always wanted to be. I'd like to think it's the latter. There's no one else out there making music like this (Not even Tom Petty, who to be honest hasn't made a decent record for 20 years, he doesn't need to, Charlie's doing it for him!). Mr Petty is clearly still an influence but the (cough) musical palette has been broadened to include The Cars (One More Night could be off "Heartbeat City), US 80s FM radio in general and Lloyd Cole (Not since "Easy Pieces" has anyone used girls names so often in songs). It is a wonderfully tuneful and catchy record which I keep playing over and over.
However more than that it is incredibly evocative. What am I on about? Well if the first album was about Laura, the second one about breaking up with Laura and the third one was saying "Up Yours Laura, I don't need you anymore, I've got Tom Petty", this one is about TIME and, particularly the passing thereof. The word "Time" gets mentioned more often than Prince mentions Nookie on any of his 80s albums or Lady
Gaga refers to....er..."Lady Gaga". According to his Birth Certificate Fink is 26 years old. However mentally he is older than me (And that's saying something). Most of these songs are about friends he has lost touch with, girls he has loved (NOT Laura thankfully) and is still thinking of, what was and what may still be. Themes that strike a chord with most people in possession of a heart that's still beating. It's a staggeringly mature record from someone almost half my age! It contains some of the most thoughtful lyrics that I have heard for years. My favorite at the moment being "But it's OK to not know where you want to go. And Love may not be the Cure, That's something I'll never know".
Where Charlie and his largely bearded colleagues go from here is anyone's guess. I'd like to think that I'd be celebrating my 60th Birthday (In 12 years time.....EEP!) at somewhere like the Union Chapel listening to him (and hopefully Whale) singing songs with more of his wisdom and observation about friends and loves gained and lost. If so, I hope he'll still be playing songs from this wonderful album!!
