A Whale of a time with Noah and the boys
Friday, 11 Apr 2008 14:55
Noah and the Whale's debut album is released in June
Fresh-faced Noah and the Whale win over inthenews.co.uk's Louise Cadell with their chirpy tunes.
Standing before the audience at Camden's Koko, Noah and the Whale look too young and way too fresh-faced with their knitted scarves matching lead singer Charlie's blazer. In fact, they look like auditionees for a Harry Potter film. But no words are spoken, they smile shyly and silently pick up their instruments. And after the first song, I'm in love.
Cutting edge Noah and the Whale are not. Boundary pushers? Ah no. These kids do nice music, the kind your mum would like you to date, if only it were possible. But gosh, is it fun.
Made up of members Charlie, Doug, Tom, Matt and on this occasion a little blonde-fringed girl called Becca standing in for Laura Marling on vocals, Noah and the Whale sung cutesy lyrics about love, fun and sun sifted and lightly dusted onto the most solid-sounding tunes I have heard in a long time. And this is a band that, though young and new to the scene, know their instruments. Violins, guitars, drums, trumpets, ukuleles, you name it, they probably play it.
Though their list on songs is few, there are already some classics-in-the-making, such as fan favourite Jocasta (which, it has to be said, had the kids in a frenzy) and their last song for the night, Five Years Time. Played with such relish, Five Years Time made sure that no one listening was immune to the charms of this spirited little band.
Check out the video for upcoming single Shape of My Heart - released on May 5th - here on inthenews.co.uk
And click here to buy the single
Since I'm a sucker for a ukulele any day and am always ready to argue that accordions are far too under-used, it's no real shock that I enjoyed what these guys had on offer. But I wasn't alone. Standing near the front of the stage, looking like a git bopping around with a massive smile on my face, I was but one of many in a sea of bouncing bodies and nodding heads.
Nostalgic, whimsical and all those other adjectives used to describe folk? Tick. But wait – where is the attitude? The posing? The self-confident, we're-a-band-and-you-will-love-us vibe? Perhaps they don't care enough, too involved in their tunes, acting very much like the band who have as much fun jamming in someone's basement as they do on stage. I do suspect a big reason Noah and the Whale are like this is that they're young, both age-wise and as a band (only a year together so far), but I hope I have it wrong.
Had my companion and I known that the main act of the night, Adam Green, would be a huge disappointment, we would have made a hasty exit right after Noah and the Whale did their thing with our spirits high and our faith in performers in tact. Alas in life it seems, not everything works out accordingly. But it has to be said that both my companion and I agreed we'd sit through Green again just to hear Noah and the Whale. And frankly, I can't think of a higher compliment.
Louise Cadell