- Record Label: Cherrytree/Interscope
- Release Date: Oct 6, 2009
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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They have done a hell of a lot of growing up. An immense album.
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The quiet simplicity of these songs is better suited to Fink’s lone voice, clear without a jumble of voices and complex harmonies, strengthening the continuity of the storytelling.
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This is a beautiful album. Moving rather than maudlin, uplifting rather than depressing.
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Mojo"This is a song for anyone with a broken heart," Fink sings on 'Blue Skies' and the break-up album of the year is complete. [Sep 2009, p.98]
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However maudlin Noah & The Whale begin, then, there's a wonderful narrative here that sees them move from first-love blues, through resentment to healing and finally to acceptance.
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Heartbreak can tear a songwriter to shreds, but it serves the opposite purpose here, lending a sense of vulnerability to Fink's baritone and adding some much-needed drama to the band's music, which previously concerned itself with twee-styled progressions and summery melodies.
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The First Days of Spring falls in the gentle, folky space between Belle & Sebastian and It’s Jo and Danny, but manages to carve out a singular place for itself with thoughtful lyricism and artful songwriting.
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It’s an intriguing record brimming with solid songs that only loses step by keeping to a narrow path.
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Under The RadarThe First Days Of Spring has a wonderful orchestral bent, with many tracks graced by symphonic backing that brings welcome grandeur without succumbing to cloying melodrama. [Fall 2009, p.59]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 32 out of 36
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Mixed: 2 out of 36
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Negative: 2 out of 36
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Jan 10, 2014