I’ll Do Anything to Be Happy

October 27, 2009

My ladyfriend refuses to play the Noah and the Whale’s first album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, unless it’s exceptionally beautiful outside. Which makes sense, the music is perfect for those sunny days when there is not a cloud in the sky. The First Days of Spring, despite the title, is almost the polar opposite. It’s an album full of overcast music, with the few rays of sunshine peeking through now and then. While the first album was mostly about the joy of living in the moment, particularly “5 Years Time,”* the songs here are mostly about lost love and everything that goes with it. Just look at a few lines from “My Broken Heart”: “I thought I believed in love/But I didn’t see it through,” “I’ve been looking for hope these days,” and the refrain “You can’t break my broken heart.” These are the words of someone who has been severely damaged and is trying to figure out what happened and how to move on.

The second half of the record finds the band realizing that while things might be bad right now, they’re going to get better. Compare those lines from “My Broken Heart” to these from the choir-filled “Blue Skies”: “I’ll do anything to be happy,” “It’s time to leave those feelings behind,” and “I don’t think that it’s the end/But I know we can’t keep going.” By the time the song erupts, the band sounds ready to move on from a devastating relationship and get back to some of the joy of their first record.

Noah and the Whale aren’t anything exceptional, and they probably won’t re-align your worldview, but they do make some damn fine music. I’ve found myself coming back to Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, every now and then, which is more than I can say for a lot of the albums I buy. They can get a little self-important, and the music borders on grandiose at times, but let’s take a cue from the band’s own playbook and just enjoy it while we can.

MP3 Noah and the Whale – My Broken Heart
Mp3 Noah and the Whale – Blue Skies

*Bonus: Here is the aforementioned “5 Years Time,” because it’s such a good song and because I think the new album is more enjoyable if your know where the band is coming from.

MP3 Noah and the Whale – 5 Years Time

Posted by Matt in Artist Spotlight