Noah and the
Whale
Heart of Nowhere
Sadly
Heart of Nowhere marks the end of a
great run that Noah and the Whale were
on, where every album marked an improvement on their previous one – something I
guess all bands aspire to but few achieve.
This, their fourth record, is unfortunately not as good as their third (the
now career benchmark of Last Night on
Earth). Nonetheless, it’s still
brimming with catchy folk-rock tunes, all tinged with a little bit of the 80s. Not too much, mind. In some ways this record harks back a little
to their debut – the fiddle is again more prominent, and the welcome
reintroduction of female backing vocals at various points (especially on the
excellent title track) – all evoke 2008’s Peaceful,
the World Lays Me Down. However,
this is a more mature effort, which shows the band’s song-writing progression
over 4 albums and 5 years. It just sadly
doesn’t quite have the same number of gems as their previous effort did.
Sample track: ‘Heart of Nowhere’
Sample track: ‘Heart of Nowhere’