Heart of Nowhere

One of the things I love about Noah and the Whale is the constant use of strings across all their albums. Even though Heart of Nowhere and Last Night on Earth are so much 'bigger' than their first two offerings, string sections have always been a big feature of their sound. And really, who doesn't love a good string section - just look at the success of Call Me Maybe last summer, which, whichever side of the fence you were on, had a really catchy string harmony in it. (Not that I'm comparing Charlie Fink and the boys to Carly Rae, it was just to illustrate my point.)

Heart of Nowhere follows in the vein of Last Night on Earth in its underlying feeling. It sounds like that urge to strike out on your own, and find new places and meet new people. This connotation might have something to with the timing of the album releases in my life, just before I start new adventures (although referring to moving home as an adventure feels a bit odd). For boys in their mid-twenties who, four albums in, are probably pretty sure about what they're doing with their lives, they capture that feeling of long summer holidays and endless possibilities perfectly for me. It's punchy, catchy, 80s-American inspired rock (thankfully without that need for 'anthems') that sticks in your head, in a positive, feel-good way. Those adjectives might not be 'cool', but that doesn't detract from a sound that is distinctive and beloved, and I get the distinct feeling that the foursome don't really care if it sin't cool, much like their more folky counterpart Mumford and Sons (if that pairing seems like a stretch, they emerged out of the same folk scene at about the same time, and both frontmen have romantic pasts with Laura Marling, so the two go together in my head).

Maybe it's the sun outside my window and the sandals on my bedroom floor and the memory of seeing them live 5 years ago before their debut album was released (horror of horrors, was it really that long? I feel old with that memory) at Westonbirt Arboretum's summer concerts, in a field with my best friend and her family as dusk fell, but this feels like the sort of record that just screams summer - optimism, hope, bittersweet love stories, and the idea of spending forever with friends. Fink sings on the chorus of 'Silver and Gold', "It's OK, to not always be sure, exactly what it is you found", but in Heart of Nowhere and Noah and the Whale, I know, all over again, I have found a record I can listen to time and time again and not be bored, not skip that one dodgy song that I haven't found yet.