Last Night On Earth- Noah & The Whale

What happens when Nu-Folkers forget the folk...

What a difference a day makes. Or, in the case of Noah & The Whale, make that 928. That was the gap between their sophomore The First Days of Spring and their new record. It marks quite a shift- the former a heartbreaking, self-destructive lament to a lost relationship (that of frontman Charlie Fink and Laura Marling), high on fiddle and rich in strings, and definitely in the nu-folk club.

Only one concession to those darker moods can be found on new album Last Night On Earth. The Line chronicles the combustible end of a relationship (“Is this the line where you get drunk and yell?”) in low key fashion. Everything else finds NATW as the next band who decide they need to revisit the FM AOR from the 70s and 80s.

Alarm bells ring from the opening, with Life Is Life’s introduction featuring washes of synths and popping finger clicks that leave you feeling like you’ve accidentally put on an Enya record. The strained warmth of Fink’s voice soon catapults in to save the situation, but the damage has been wrought.

Tonight’s The Kind Of Night doesn’t greatly improve the situation by following the same pattern. Last Night On Earth really hits its stride with first single L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N- the song whose chorus will have found its way into your brain on repeat in recent months. The album’s lyrical themes of hope against adversity are all present and correct, with tales of “rock and roll survivors” such as Lisa, nicknamed “little Lisa, Loony Tunes/She went down on almost anyone”- people who’ve seen hard times, but who always recite the song’s title to get through. It’s a slightly cheesy idea done very well, with a swirling pop hook backing it all up.

The same can be said of Give It All Back, which manages to be memorable and lovely despite cloying self-referential lyrics about the formation of a band playing “a cover of Don’t Let Me Down” at school assembly, and marimba. The real gold is found at the end of the record: the aforementioned The Line, darkly drifting across the soul, before the hugely uplifting showcase that is Old Joy. A mood accompaniment to L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N, with added gospel choir, unironic and straight-faced enough to avoid pastiche.

Refusing to re-work the same ground covered in the past, Noah & The Whale must be praised for their determination to make three distinct, individual albums. However, the Tom Petty-meets-pop-sheen does varnish away many of the awkward edges that made them stand out as something impressive to begin with, and the near absence of Tom Hobden’s fiddle is a great shame. Despite this, Last Night On Earth, at its best, does what great music should by altering and affecting mood, this standing as one of the most uplifting records in recent times.

Just next time, can we just leave the 80s where they are please?

3/5

Best Tracks:
Old Joy
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N
The Line