Squids In The Movies

Film director Noah Baumbach is well known for creating quirky indie films in a similar vein to the more popular Wes Anderson. And while Baumbach's films may not quite get the popularity and full respect they so lovingly deserve, there is still a loyal fan base of people who love his movies. I'm part of that fan base, and apparently so are the members of Noah and the Whale. They titled their band using a cross between Noah Baumbach's name and the title of one of his movies, "The Squid and the Whale." For those who haven't seen "The Squid and the Whale," go out and rent it right away. The movie stars Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney as divorcing parents (who are also writers) with two sons who struggle to cope with the turmoil that living and growing up in that environment can bring. It's weird, it's funny, it's exceptionally quirky, and it's got Anna Paquin and William Baldwin in supporting roles. The soundtrack has songs by Dean & Britta, The Feelies, Loudon Wainright III and Lou Reed among others. But let's stop talking about this great movie + soundtrack and get to the band whose name is based upon it.

Similar to the actual movie, Noah and the Whale's debut album "Peaceful The World Lays Me Down" has a pretty quirky indie pop feel to it. Most of the songs are built around folk acoustic roots, but there's plenty of other bits and pieces like xylophones and flutes and saxophones and violins that show up on virtually every track as well. Were this released a few years back, it very well could've been the perfect soundtrack to "The Squid and the Whale." The songs are actually really, really catchy and delightful and have much more commercial appeal than most other independent releases I've heard so far this year. I view that as a good thing- you can even hear the band's song "5 Years Time" in a Saturn commercial, so if you watch enough TV chances are it'll strike a familiar chord when you hear it.

Lots of words have been spent trying to draw parallels between Noah and the Whale and other bands to help describe their sound. The Arcade Fire has been thrown about a few times, and while that's not a completely off-base comparison, it's really the dominant violins and xylophone parts that give the music commonalities. More accurate are the indie pop/folk of bands like Belle & Sebastian and Iron & Wine (with an occasional hint of Neutral Milk Hotel), and a main part of that has to do with the acoustic base on which almost all the songs are based around. That, plus the overall catchiness/sugary goodness of many of these songs flashes like an overheard sign saying "get your indie pop here." For the outsiders who don't listen to much "indie rock" aside from the occasional soundtrack to movies like "Juno" and "Little Miss Sunshine," Noah and the Whale have made an album that should delight your ears. It's polite, it's inoffensive and hopefully it makes you crack a smile.

You can call me a sucker if you like, but I really really like "Peaceful The World Lays Me Down." It may not be very original or mind-blowing, but what it lacks in that respect it more than makes up for in sheer songcraft. This band knows how to compose an indie pop song, and their debut album is chock-full of happy and beautiful songs that swirl around you like a warm hug from a great friend. It's tough to really criticize an album that leaves you with such warm fuzzies at every turn, and you'd probably have to be a cold-hearted bastard to take Noah and the Whale to task for writing some earnestly grand pop songs. Give this band a chance. Hopefully they'll charm you the same way they charmed me. Anybody want to use this album for their next quirky indie movie? Wes Anderson? Noah Baumbach? Anybody?

"Peaceful The World Lays Me Down" is out in Europe now. Buy it in the U.S. on September 16th.

Noah and the Whale- 2 Atoms In A Molecule
Noah and the Whale- Shape of My Heart

Preorder "Peaceful The World Lays Me Down" from Amazon

Labels: noah and the whale