Cover Feature Cover Feature: Noah And The Whale: Life Goes On

‘Don’t bore us, get to the chorus!”

This mantra, adopted by the band throughout the creation of new album, ‘Last Night On Earth’, explains perfectly the changes in Noah & The Whale’s sound. Gone is the jolly whimsy of their debut along with the dark emotional depths of their 2009 follow-up, ‘The First Days Of Spring’. In their place? Pop. Slick, polished, huge and immediate pop.

“I think more than anything it was instinctive, what felt right to us at the time”, explains frontman, songwriter and co-producer on the new album, Charlie Fink. “What we were listening to, the stories in the songs, what we wanted to say, what we wanted to express. There wasn’t a committee meeting where we said ‘we’re gonna go pop’, ‘we’re gonna get some beats’, but a big part of the writing was condensing the songs, to be direct in that way.”

The cleaner, fuller sounds on the record aren’t only down to personal tastes or the listening habits of the band. Instead, it was the need to stretch themselves musically that did it. Bandmate Tom Hobden chips in. “We subconsciously wanted to flex some of our musical muscle, just to see if we could do it.”

“I think we really did push ourselves on this album, took ourselves out of our comfort zone a little,” continues Charlie. “It is drastically different to what we’ve done before, and like Tom says, we’re still trying to find what’s within our capabilities.”

Noah & The Whale have emerged from the muddy banks of south-west London’s prolific folk conveyor belt to become one of 2011’s great British pop hopes. ‘Last Night On Earth’ is the first new material from the band since the departure of their original drummer, Charlie’s older brother Doug, in August 2009 - just days before the release of the second album. And it’s one mighty departure in sound for the quartet.

So vast is the gap between the new record and its predecessors, you’d be forgiven for thinking the band behind it wasn’t one often mentioned in sentences alongside banjo-wielding scruffs, Mumford & Sons, or Mercury-nominated singer/ songwriter (and former collaborator), Laura Marling. Last time around, Noah & The Whale were literally heartbroken, their sound delicate and subtle, personal and intimate; the band’s second album is very publicly a record of its frontman’s state of mind following the break-up of his relationship with Marling. Here, the only sadness on display is the slightly macabre sheen over a message of ‘let’s get on with it’. It’s no coincidence the first single taken from it is titled ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N’.

We meet Charlie and Tom at the band’s current home-from-home, an east London recording studio-slash-rehearsal space. They’re here in preparation of taking ‘Last Night On Earth’ on tour, and as Charlie explains, they’re taking everything a little more seriously than last time around. “With the last record, we rehearsed for about a week before we went on the road, maybe less. This time, we’ve been in here for a couple of weeks already, and we’re really focused. There’s gonna be a lot of touring this year.”

With “wanting to make an album that would work live as well, to have the excitement to go and play songs that have energy to them”, it’s no surprise the band have extensive touring plans – which we’d assume include various high-profile festival slots throughout the summer. Does that mean we’ll be hearing new versions of old favourites? “Some of them. Some we’re being quite faithful to, others we’re just revisiting. I wouldn’t say we’re altering them that drastically.

“Honestly, I’m just so excited about getting on the road again, playing songs. I can’t wait.”

Noah & The Whale’s new album ‘Last Night On Earth’ is out now via Mercury Records.

Extract taken from the April 2011 issue of DIY, available now. For more details, and to read the full interview, click here.