Mere Mortals Create Glory

For a band hardly a few years mature it would appear peculiar to reflect on their lives as having already peaked (as noticed in several of their blog posts simply as “Sic Transit Gloria” - a reference to Wes Anderson’s Rushmore or perhaps just a gloomy outlook). I’m still playing catch-up to my anxiety-causing backed-up TiVO. Glory does fade, my friends, but the London based Noah and the Whale with their inaugural folk rock long player Peaceful The World Lays Me Down have infinite splendor in front of them.

From their benevolent pursed lip whistles and plucked ukuleles to the Laura Marling backing of Charlie Fink’s dazzling fancy of summer love in ‘5 Years Time’, these children of electric-pop folk have found a perfect mingle of twee and sinisterly-catchy. While most of the songs engage the same, Noah are at their smartest when they abandon dispirited cover-ups with sunshine and lollipops as in the brilliantly sublime opener ‘2 Atoms in a Molecule’.

The album and subsequently the band can easily be picked apart because of its darling approach. But those pessimists live in global despair and parental disgruntlement. Peaceful The World is bursting with pain, as heard by Fink in ‘Shape of My Heart’ - begging his love to in fact not grow. It’s just coyly coated with violins and horns. Underneath these surfaces is a brooding band muddling through the best they can. The last thing I want is a Laney Meyer moment in a car; tossing the radio because every song harks back to personal calamities. Nope. Instead I’ll take well-groomed lyrics and crafted - often times rousing - folk any day. Glory please stay.

Sean Kendall