noah and the whale frontman charlie fink Image 2
NOAH And The Whale's Charlie Fink was sitting on a train on New Year's Day travelling from Wales to London when one line popped into his head and shaped the rest of his year.
That line was the auspiciously prophetic Tonight's The Kind Of Night (When Everything Changed).
It eventually led to the band's third album Last Night On Earth and a total change of direction for the London-based quartet, who also include Matt Owens, Fred Abbott and Tom Hobden.
So different was their third album that it had many people rechecking to see they were listening to the correct CD. But judging by the band's track record, fans shouldn't have been that surprised.
First album, the hugely optimistic Peaceful, The World Lay Me Down saw the band pigeon-holed into a cosy nu-folk box along with other like-minded folkies like Mumford And Sons and Charlie's then-girlfriend Laura Marling.
Then second album First Days Of Spring, the brutally honest and painful charting of Charlie's break-up with Marling, hit fans with a sucker punch and left them with the devastating aftermath of bruised and battered emotions.
Charlie said: "It was quite a transformative couple of years for me and I was looking to make a fresh start after the second album.
"It was a leap for me in terms of songwriting and it's the first time writing characters, third-person narratives. Also a large theme of the album is change and people making a change in their life.
"It is also set in night time and there's the limitless possibility of the night and the romance of it. People taking their first step towards a new life."
The gamble and change in direction paid off. By Hogmanay, the album should have appeared in many "best of 2011" lists.
Charlie said: "I have been surprised the reviews have been so great. I thought people might kick against it and wouldn't get it. I know some people were shocked the first time they heard it but now it is their favourite album of ours. I like the idea of people putting it on and thinking they have put on the wrong album."
It sounds like Charlie has been plundering an 80s back catalogue, digging out electric guitars, drum machines and synthesizers. At just 24, the era's heyday was just out of Charlie's reach but nevertheless, he has been discovering and exploring some iconic artists.
Charlie said: "The album is instinctive to what I was listening to and what felt right. It is important to never repeat yourself. I always respected artists who never repeat themselves, people like Arthur Russell and Tom Waits. I think the most you can ask for from a songwriter is that they are really investigative and searching for something.
"There were two sides to what I was doing. On the songwriting side, it was Lou Reed's Berlin and Tom Waits' Bone Machine and anything like Springsteen. And production-wise it was Brian Eno, Arthur Russell and Prince."
The album was mostly made in LA's Venice Beach, Bob Dylan's studio from the 70s and also in a London synagogue, where the band captured something special in the demos that made it on to the finished album.
But more changes came in the band's line-up as Charlie's brother Doug left to continue his career as a doctor.
Charlie confessed: "It has been hard with my brother no longer there. He is my brother and fulfils more than just the role of drummer when we are touring, but he is still quite involved.
"He played on the demos and we always talk to him about our artwork and new songs. But also the drummer we are touring with now is fantastic and has settled in well.
"My brother had already qualified for medical school but came with the band for a few years. Now he has gone back to being a full-time doctor. It was definitely useful having a doctor on tour."
With summer festival season in full swing, it's hard to believe there's one date that has eluded them so far.
Charlie explained: "We've never done T in the Park, I've no idea why, for some reason we have only done Oxygen in Ireland. So it is really exciting for us, I can't wait."
With three albums, each with its own personality and sound, any Noah set list on tour is going to be a varied affair.
Charlie said: "A friend of mine who came to a recent show said the old songs have been given a lift by the new songs and they thought the old songs sounded better than ever. And it's true, the old ones have been given a new lease of life."
Their name comes from a love of film. Noah And The Whale is a combination of one of their favourite movies, The Squid And The Whale, and the name of the film's director, Noah Baumbach.
Charlie and the band also made a well-crafted film around The First Days Of Spring, which starred a coquettish and doe-eyed Daisy Lowe.
Film is something that Charlie wants to do more of and he has also just finished a documentary charting the making of Last Night On Earth.
Charlie revealed: "This is a very different project from The First Days Of Spring. I was trying to make as direct a record as possible. I would love to do more with films further down the line if I can."
Even though the band seem to have sonically moved away from their folk counterparts, those same artists have also moved on and upwards. Mumford And Sons' debut album Sigh No More and Laura Marling's I Speak Because I Can were both Mercury nominated last year, although they lost out to The xx.
The Mercury Awards nominations are due on July 19, so do Noah feel like bridesmaids, never quite getting the prize? Charlie said: "Not really. We are all doing quite different things now. I think as a writer you can only really control your own output. You can only make the best record you can and hope people like it.
"Just now the atmosphere in the band is the best it has ever been. I am always going to invest a lion's share of honesty into whatever I am writing."
It will be interesting to see what waters Noah And The Whale decide to chart next and Charlie seems to be a man who always has a plan.
He said: "I have already started tinkering around for the next album but right now I am trying to focus on playing the shows as best we can and making sure we deliver the best shows every night.
"It is a good and exciting place to be, to have made an album like that. It frees us up for the next record. There is so much space to go into now."
The world, it seems, is Noah And The Whale's oyster.
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