On Tuesday night, British nu-folk band Noah and the Whale opened their United States tour to promote their new album, The First Days of Spring, to a crowded house at the Roxy in West Hollywood.

For those who have not listened to the new album, it was apparent right off the bat that this is a new Noah and the Whale group, both physically and emotionally. Missing is Laura Marling, former singer and girlfriend of frontman Charlie Fink. The result is essentially an album of Fink’s emotional breakdown after their breakup. Haunting guitar riffs and hardened vocals replace the whistling and ukuleles that fans have associated with Noah and the Whale after popular songs like “5 Years Time” and “2 Atoms in a Molecule” from their last album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down. For those who may not know the band, you may recognize “5 Years Time” with its “fun, fun, fun, sun, sun, sun” refrain, featured on car commercials and tv shows throughout the past year.

It was disappointing at first when the show ended without the band playing their up-beat sing-a-long tracks from their first album, but those songs truly would not have gone with the flow of the show. The band instead opted to mostly play songs from their new album. Fans of the older album may have been let down a little however it is true that often the greatest, most beautiful music comes from either the creation of powerful love, or the loss of it. Lead singer Charlie Fink looked dejected throughout the entire performance, at times appearing on the verge of tears, which brought sincerity and power to the music that they performed.

The show began with “Give a Little Love”, a song from their first album that could easily fit into the flow of the second album. A long instrumental at the end of the song introduced the audience to Tom “Fiddle” Hobden, who switched between piano and violin throughout the night. Hobden’s instruments essentially replaced the horn section from Peaceful and an accompanying orchestra on select tracks from The First Days. They then floated through a few new songs including their newest single, “Blue Skies”. After a down-tempo opening to the show, the band then played four upbeat tracks: “Love of an Orchestra” (from The First Days), “Rocks and Daggers”, “Jocasta” and “Shape of My Heart” (all from Peaceful). The audience sang and rocked together to these tracks, only to be brought back to the reality of the Fink’s misery in the new material.

After “Hold My Hand as I’m Lowered”, bassist Matt Urby and the band’s newest member, a guitarist/pianist introduced to the audience as Jack, played an incredible jam session while Charlie tuned his guitar for the next song. Also new to the band is their drummer after former drummer Doug Fink (Charlie’s brother) dropped out of the band a few months ago to pursue a career in medicine. “Doug left the band to become a doctor,” Charlie told the audience, “but don’t worry we’ve got a new awesome drummer!” The lights dimmed once Charlie’s guitar was tuned as he began a new song called “Stranger” about his first night with another woman after his breakup with Marling. With only Charlie playing on the guitar and the lights solely on him, the sadness and loneliness that he had experienced from the breakup was there, right in front of the audience. After singing the lyrics “Everything I’ve loved has gone away”, the rest of the band joined him with steady pounding on the drum, deep guitar, and a depressing yet mind-blowing string accompaniment by Tom on the violin. NATW ended the show with an incredible performance of “The First Days of Spring”, the opening track for the new album with arguably the greatest instrumental section on any song by the band. This was my personal highlight of the night. The song was absolutely breathtaking with each member bringing so much intensity. (Watch the video below).

After the main set, the band came back out to play “My Broken Heart”, one of their lengthier songs. They continued on the concert’s flow of demonstrating their instrumental mastery. As the song neared its end, Charlie dropped to his knees, strumming his guitar with such emotion. He took the guitar off and set it on the ground next to him and began to play with the controls of his guitar pedal distorting the sound of his guitar. Earlier in the show he used a Sonicare electric toothbrush to distort the sound of his guitar as well.

All in all, Noah and the Whale impressed. Each member of the band demonstrated their musical ability throughout the night. They performed with such sincerity, and the emotions of the music carried the group’s performance. Of course, it was a letdown to not hear my favorite songs (“5 Years Time” and “2 Atoms in a Molecule”), however I left the show with a greater appreciation of their music as a whole and now have a few more songs that I am bound to play more often.

Opener Robert Francis played a fantastic set as well featuring a lot of songs from his new album, Before Nightfall, which was released earlier this month. Francis, a young and talented singer/songwriter from Los Angeles, gained some popularity over the past week, having the iTunes Free Single of the Week for his new single, “Junebug”. He flashed his potential as an up-and-coming artist with powerful, hardened vocals along with demonstrating his guitar ability, reeling out riffs that his mentor, John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers would surely be impressed by. He is sure to gain a lot of fans along this tour as well.

Noah and the Whale Setlist

1. Give a Little Love
2. Our Window
3. Blue Skies
4. Love of an Orchestra [with an instrumental segment leading into it]
5. Rocks and Daggers
6. Jocasta
7. Shape of My Heart
8. Hold My Hand as I’m Lowered [followed by a jam session]
9. Stranger
10. I Have Nothing
11. My Door is Always Open
12. The First Days of Spring

ENCORE

13. My Broken Heart

–Peter Wardell

Suuper Good Radio Show, Thursdays 12-2 pm

Tom Hobden, violinist and pianist for Noah and the Whale

Charlie Fink, lead singer of Noah and the Whale

Robert Francis