Noah and the Whale

Noah and the Whale is a band based in Britain, and I have to say, I've been pretty impressed by their first and only album so far. I heard of them from one of my classmates, and just managed to buy the CD today. As a matter of fact, I'm listening to it now.

The singer has a very odd voice; the sort you don't expect to find in music... His accent is not unlike that of the famous Sixties rock musician, Syd Barrett; it's the type of British accent which is so thick that you can even hear it through the singing. You know, usually when someone's singing you can't tell if he's American or British, but this guy just sounds so British when he sings.

Their album is called "Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down." It's a nice little introduction to the whimsical tones and the scratching violin of Noah and the Whale, and the lyrics are certainly a force to be reckoned with. Here's a snippet of one of my favorite of their songs:

Oh when I look to the shape of my heart,

it's separated only by a scar

that cut and cut out, or leave me without

a heart that functions at all.

And when I look to the shape of the sky,

I give thanks for this hollow chest of mine;

that I no longer feel the great weight of ordeal

that can make this life so unkind.

(from "The Shape of My Heart")

I mean, just listen to those lyrics. Those are actually decent lyrics. Like, it's an actual original idea accompanied by original music; those indie freaks with their Anberlin and Coldplay would pee themselves. I'm telling you, when bands like Noah and the Whale and Electrasy finally get popular and take over the world, these elitists are going to be fleeing before the pervasive shadow of Good Music like rats from a flood.

Indeed. Noah and the Whale is like a beacon of hope to me on my distant shore, apart from the mainland of music. I'd thought that I'd already discovered all the good music in the world, but this band has opened up doorways for me, and I realize that even today there are a few decent musicians out there. Think of Regina Spektor; I mean, "Begin to Hope" was her only really good album, but who knows where her golden road will take her? And what about CAKE? A well established band which is both current and also excellent. And Sondre Lerche too; I haven't heard as much of his stuff as these other people, but what I've heard so far has been fantastic. 

So who knows? Maybe there's hope for people yet. Jazz morphed slowly into Rock and Roll, so maybe Rock and Roll's not dead yet either; maybe it's just evolved into something even stranger. There are hard times ahead for music, but bands like these ones are constantly facing hard times, which means that when the music industry's gone down the toilet, they'll be more prepared than the millionaire superstar jerks who still try to be "indie."

Here's their website:

noahandthewhale.com