Noah and the Whale fans will be surprised by the more upbeat sound of the eagerly anticipated third album from the folksy quartet. "Last Night on Earth" is a positively happy sounding album, and those with educated ears will know it marks a change from the band's previous sound.
The album opens on a strong note with "Life is Life," a catchy pop tune that hooks the listener with a desire to experience the rest of the album. The chorus is an amalgamation of cheerful voices singing "your life is your life," with Charlie Fink's strong tones proclaiming over the top, "and it feels like his new life can start/ and it feels like heaven."
This is definitely a different approach from the melancholy themes of the group's previous album, "The First Days of Spring" (2009).
The most notable change between Noah and the Whale's first two albums is the lack of a female backing singer on the second album, due to Laura Marling's departure from the band. This meant that its sophomore album consisted purely of male voices, lending the band a different sound without the purpose of doing so.
Yet the band seems to have found a female backup singer to contribute to the chorus for the second song, "Tonight's the Kind of Night," another strong, optimistic tune. With lyrics like "His heart is full of perfect joy/ He whispers his goodbye/ 'Cause tonight's the kind of night/ Where everything could change," it is evident that while Fink's previous state of heartbreak lent him the inspiration for the perfect self−indulgent ballads, the band's new state of buoyancy does not detract from its ability to compose finely−tuned indie folk songs.
The first single off the album, "L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.," is a catchy, somewhat bluesy song with a chorus able to be sung along to by anybody who can spell. The continuous strain of solid tracks bordering on the pop side of the genre ends with "Wild Thing," a slower tune, relying mainly on Fink's voice and the resonating guitar chords.
"Give It All Back" seems at first to be a return to Noah and the Whale's roots, when the ukulele was an instrument unheard of on the indie music scene and Mumford & Sons were but a budding idea in the head of a schoolboy, yet 10 seconds in the band manages to effectively balance between new and old. Noah and the Whale has moved on to a more guitar−based phase in its sound while retaining remnants of its former sound in each of its songs with the use of a cheerful violin in "Just Me Before We Met."
The short interlude "Paradise Stars" is confusing and more out of place than anything else. A one−and−a−half minute piano−fueled instrumental piece in minor key seems to conflict with the optimistic timbre of the rest of the album — maybe it is a reminder of what the band is capable of, maybe a prelude to the hopeful lyrics and tone of the ensuing song, "Waiting for a Chance to Come." Mostly, it is forgettable after the joyful chords and confident drumbeats of the next song start.
The last two songs on the album, "The Line" and "Old Joy," are a reminder of Noah and the Whale's proficiency at composing folksy ballads that, while bordering on melancholy, still manage to be heartfelt and not contrived. "Old Joy" especially is an elegiac tune with surprisingly positive lyrics, "Day by day/ Old joy/ Comes back to me."
Avid fans of Noah and the Whale may be sad at the departure from its previous trademarked folk sound, but "Last Night on Earth" is a solid, genuine album — though it certainly is telling that an album focusing on hope is 10 minutes shorter than one about the pain of heartbreak.
