Good Weather For Airstrikes

There’s this quasi-renaissance of British folk music going on in London right now, with singer-songwriters and folk collectives thriving artistically and commercially everywhere you look. Just as 2006 and early 2007 were dominated by electro, folk seems to be the genre du jour in the eyes of the majors and the scene is flourishing. At the forefront of the movement are singer-songwriters like Kid Harpoon, Lightspeed Champion and Kate Nash, but there are plenty more acts to get excited about in the new folk scene. However, there may be none more promising than Noah & The Whale and Laura Marling.

Noah & The Whale just might be my favorite new band. I caught them live twice in London last June, just as they were beginning to generate buzz amongst industry heads and those in the know, once with Florence and the Machine and later opening for Fields at the Institute of Contemporary Art. I attended with a group of people each time and the verdict was unanimous on both occasions: totally awesome.

Like so many artists in this burgeoning scene, Noah & The Whale’s success is founded on their ability to be totally fucking endearing at all times. Nowhere is this more apparent than on debut single “Five Years Time”, perhaps the most carefree, relentlessly breezy single of the year. With a jovial effervescence that can brighten even the darkest day, the track is all ukuleles, xylophones and whimsically nostalgic lyrics about fun, sun and love (these words come up A LOT), yet manages not to be overly-cute or cloying in spite of itself. This would have been ideal for heavy rotation in the summertime, but it arrives just in time to give you one last wistful look back at the warmer months before putting on your sweater and marching into autumn. The lovely Emmy The Great contributes backing vocals on the track, and she’s in even finer form on “Jocasta”, the Neutral Milk Hotel-inspired B-side that comes complete with accordions and hand-claps and easily rivals the A-side in terms of excellence.

Out on the esteemed Young & Lost Club imprint, the 7″ is available now from any record store worth it’s salt. For the turntable-challenged, however, the Puregroove Digital store is offering the tracks for purchase as high-quality 320 kbps MP3s. Unlike iTunes, Puregroove won’t discriminate against you by your place of residence (read: you can buy this even if you’re stateside) AND they throw in a FREE bonus track, the lovely “Beating”, just ’cause they’re nice like that. I’ve posted the A-Side below, along with another promising demo (”2 Bodies 1 Heart”) and the demo version of “Jocasta”. The sparse demo sounds terribly anemic in comparison to the vastly superior and lushly arranged final version, so do yourself a favor and pick up the rest of the bundle from Puregroove at your earliest convenience. Do feel free to enjoy the tracks below in the meantime, but don’t sleep on the whole package.

MP3s:
“Five Years Time” - Noah & The Whale ((highly recommended))
“2 Bodies 1 Heart” (Demo) - Noah & The Whale
“Jocasta” (Demo) - Noah & The Whale

Rolling deep with the Noah & The Whale crew (and currently headlining their tour) is Laura Marling, a 17 year-old singer-songwriter who’s a brilliant talent in her own right. A figurehead in the post-Lily Allen movement of talented female singer-songwriters, Laura Marling sets herself apart as the one with perhaps the most potential at her very young age. She made her debut on Way Out West Recordings last spring with the London Town EP, an admirable debut that only barely scratched the surface of Marling’s abilities as a songwriter. Now she’s returned with the My Manic & I EP, her major label on Virgin and the release that should catapult her to the forefront of the public consciousness. Her songs are generally built around nothing more than her haunting, seductive voice and elegantly simplistic acoustic guitar work, and the EP’s single and lead track, “New Romantic”, is a shining example of this.

One of the best tracks of the year, “New Romantic” is simply dazzling from start to finish. Marling sounds like weary woman worn down from years of love and life in the city, remarkable considering her young age, singing of teenage self-doubt, heartbreak and Ryan Adams (all pretty much the same territory, I guess) over a sparse guitar arrangement. The track perfectly displays Marling’s rare gift for melody and earnest lyrical approach, and it’s not hard to see how Marling was able to secure a major label deal essentially on the strength of “New Romantic” alone. Something tells me this won’t be the last brilliant song she pens though, and the young songstress seems primed to enjoy wonderful success as a top-dollar recording artist in the UK for years to come. Prepare to be swept off your feet by the fresh new face of folk.

MP3: “New Romantic” - Laura Marling ((highly recommended))

LIKE IF WES ANDERSON DID MUSIC VIDEOS, ONLY BETTER
Not that those artists weren’t entirely worthy of a post themselves, but the PRIMARY reason for this post was to spotlight James Copeman’s impeccable video for “Five Years Time”, which features the Noah & The Whale gang joined by the wonderful Miss Marling for an afternoon of Super-8 fun in a Hackney pub. The video is absolutely perfect for the track, and there’s not much more I can say about it other than that it’s easily one of my Top 3 favorite videos of the year. Download and cherish it forever below.

Video: “Five Years Time”
Artist: Noah & The Whale
Director: James Copeman
Watch: [YouTube]
Download: [Quicktime • 18 MB]

please start commenting again kthx

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Artist Profile, Music Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.