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Thursday, April 8, 2010

Review: Noah Earle - This Is The Jubilee


Noah Earle - This Is The Jubilee
2010, May Apple Records

Noah Earle has found his voice. Over the course of two acclaimed albums, Noah Earle has established himself as an up-and-coming songwriter on unusual talent. Both Six Ways To Sunday and Postcards From Home were impressive, showing flashes of brilliance, but on his third album, This Is The Jubilee (April 13, 2010), Noah Earle pulls it all together in a collection of fourteen magical songs. Earle mixes smart, sophisticated songwriting with gorgeous organic arrangements, but the true magic is in his poetry. This Is The Jubilee knows little of trickery, but much of nuance and art.

This Is The Jubilee opens with "Jubilee", an eclectic arrangement of guitar, cello, horns and percussion. Earle offers up both pleasing lead and harmony vocals while serving notice that this listening experience will be a little different. "Caravan Days" finds Earle paying tribute to youth and all of the experiences that end up shaping up into who we are. The song is a thank you to someone in particular, but can be heard as a general song of thanks for surviving and prospering from the lost days of youth to the found life we inherit. "The Sky's On Fire" is a musical daydream about the end of the world. The song is both odd and lovely in competing measure, with lyrics that border on magical ("As man shows signs of age he learns to feel small").

"Cornflower Blue" is a nice bit of songwriting with a pretty melody, but gets a bit too busy in the arrangement for its own good. Earle gets in some mix-tape consideration with the light-rock love song "Intertwined", a romantic take on the blending of lives that occurs over time. "Pinche Guera" gives a fair approximation of a Paul Simon song played with Latin horns and Fingerstyle guitar. Sung in both English and Spanish, this bouncy tune is a lot of fun. "Awaken Me" looks back at the earliest days of life and how they might affect us throughout our lives. The song is cute with a dash of humor, but carries deeper implications than you might glean the first time through. Earle shows a slightly crunchier side on guitar in catchy and enjoyable "Follow" before returning to the bossa nova form in "Love Above Ground". The most touching moment on the album is a lullaby that might be sung from the road by a dad who travels for his work. "My Silent Lullaby" is a thing of beauty, a true "Wow" moment. Earle closes with "Wait Awhile (Jubilee #2)", a gentle and fitting epilogue for This Is The Jubilee.

Over his first two albums, Noah Earle showed significant talent as a songwriter and performer. On This Is The Jubilee, Earle begins to actualize those gifts at something close to their full potential. Fans of true singer-songwriter style singing and story-telling, get ready for the next generation. Noah Earle shows the earmarks of a performer we'll still be talking about a generation from now.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Noah Earle at http://www.noahearle.com/ or www.myspace.com/noahearle. You can purchase This Is The Jubilee as either a CD or Download from Amazon.com.

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