The First Days of Spring
by Noah and The Whale

Noah and The Whale's "The First Days of Spring" is their sophomore album and the follow up to their debut "Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down". Noah and The Whale exploded in the UK with the success of their debut, but did not get the same attention in the U.S. "The First Days of Spring" is to be released on October 6 in the U.S. and was released on August 31 in the UK.

First Days of Spring is quite a stretch from the feel good folk vibes of their first album, as this is a concept album of a break-up. While the idea of a concept album about a break-up does not seem to stack up as well to the great concept albums that have been released before, the band does an amazing job at conveying the emotion of the break-up in this album. If you have listened to "Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down" then you'll know that "Hold My Hand As I'm Lowered", the closer of the album, had a very somber and heart felt feel to it. It stuck out like a sore thumb in the album that was primarily full of feel good folk songs that became poppy hits in the UK. Take the vibe of the albums closer and that is what you get with "First Days of Spring" from the beginning to the end. The opening title track is oddly the way that I'd sum up the transformation of the band from their debut to their sophomore effort. It's about the renewal that comes along with the first days of spring which parallels the want for the narrator to be "renewed" as well but still filled with the want that his love would come back to him. The kind of moving lyrics found in "Hold My Hand..." from their debut are found all throughout this album whether it be the hopeless longing found in the first part of the album's songs like "I Have Nothing" with "I need your life in my life/So come back to me my darling/I'd do anything to be at your side/I'd be anyone to be at your side" or the pain filled verse in "My Broken Heart" with " Broken hearts are a fickle thing and complicated too/I thought I believed in love but I'll never see it through/Oh I didn't marry the girl I loved/I saw my world cave in, felt like giving up". The album isn't all about the woes of the break-up though, as the album reaches a point of renewal just like the first days of spring and the narrator fills with hope that he will move on, even though sometimes those efforts are futile as in "Stranger", "Last night I slept with a stranger for the first time since you've gone" which ends with "Oh you know in a year I'm gonna be happy". The album closes with the lines "Yeah i love with my heart and i hold it in my hands/
but you know, my hearts not yours" which so perfectly sums up that album that all I can say is once this album is released in the U.S. go out and buy it.


The amount of change from their debut to their sophomore album is phenomenal. Noah and The Whale deserve far more recognition in the states. Their lyrics give you the feeling like you are going through the same break-up that the narrator has, and when you can make a concept album that makes the listener feel as though he or she is immersed in the story as well is when you know you've truly excelled at your art. Noah and The Whale have done just that and made one of my favorite albums of the year.


Rating: 9/10
Standout Tracks: "First Days of Summer", "My Broken Heart", "Love of an Orchestra", "Blue Skies"