After looking at their album art, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not the members of Noah and the Whale were Wes Anderson fans, due to how strikingly similar their it is to the art for Anderson's movies. Unsurprisingly, I found that the band's name was taken from a Wes Anderson-involved project, entitled "The Squid and the Whale", a movie written by Noah Baumbach and Wes Anderson - hence Noah and the Whale. That's where the similarities end, though.
Noah and the Whale's debut album, Peaceful The World Lays Me Down, is a good first effort, but the album falls slightly short in the end. The band plays their own mix of indie-folk and anti-folk, conjuring up a wide range of instruments and sounds to compliment them. The album has an organic feel that also touches on bluegrass, country, and fun, if that was a genre of music. Boasting the "song of the summer" (perhaps self-proclaimed?) with the song "5 Years Time", the band's fame grew until their song became one of the cliché soundtracks for a car commercial, which is totally a sign of success. While "5 Years Time" is a great, fun song, it's not entirely fair to base the band's sound around it, because not all of the songs, in fact almost none of them, are as fun and catchy as "5 Years Time." They're not bad, they're just not as catchy or cool.
Noah and the Whale employs a good variety of instruments, successfully making this album sound "pretty". This is due to the piano, xylophone/vibraphone, strings, ukulele, accordion and horns used throughout the album. I don't want to turn any guys off to this album, but it's definitely not the most masculine. The theme of the whole album seems to be "love", as it's specifically, directly, and repeatedly mentioned in just about every song. Not necessarily a bad thing, though!
The most memorable and recognizable part of Noah and the Whale is the lead singer's (Charlie Fink) voice. While it's cool that it's really recognizable and stuff, it's also kind of bad, because it makes the songs sound less fresh and more alike than they should. I like the guy's voice, though. Most songs have dual-layered vocals, Charlie Fink singing with a female. The unique mix of genuine indie music and the prettiness and the added feminine touch puts this album in a strange but enjoyable genre.
While the entire album isn't as catchy and fantastic as their breakout track, "5 Years Time", it's worth at least one listen through, and if you don't find a few songs on it that you'll want to keep listening to, I'd be surprised. If you liked any of the songs from the Juno soundtrack, you'll probably dig this album. It's not universally catchy and some songs fall a bit flat, but Noah and the Whale has created a genre that's mostly their own, and assembled a decent group of songs for your listening pleasure.
4/7
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