Noah and The Whale – Noah and The Whale present 'The A Sides'

The A Sides is a fun departure from celebrated new band Noah and The Whale. After drawing inspiration from recording b-sides for Whale singles, they spent just ten hours thrashing out seven tracks at a two take limit. The EP features covers of Daniel Johnston, The Temptations and Pachelbel as well as original songs, which you may be pleased to hear, have virtually no use of the ukulele which decorated their breakthrough hit ‘5 Years Time’. Limited to 2500 copies of 12" vinyl and released through their own Young and Lost Club label, all profits will go to the charity Age Concern and as it's released in the winter, any contribution will be a welcome boost for my Gran and her fuel bill. Cheers.'If My Album Sold a Million' is a jolly little opening track about selling a bucket load of records, losing it all and eventually reliving the dream. A new version of 'Hold My Hand as I'm Lowered' follows and is markedly different from the song that closes Whale's debut album. The funereal pace gives way to a fast tempo and a slack, fuzzy bass and is a perfect example of what they are trying to do on this EP. The two stand out tracks for me though come at the end in the Daniel Johnston cover 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Your Grievances' and 'Setting Sun'. The former has such feel good lyrics that it is a shame that it's over before you know it. Although the latter makes up for that as it winds in at around eight minutes. Granted the lyrics on 'Setting Sun' are shite but once you get past them you'll find music that would grace any summer shindig.While it does contain some bright and admirable moments, this is definitely for avid fans of Noah and the Whale only or, at a push, as a collector’s item if the Whale get as big as Jesus. 58%Noah and The Whale on MySpace