Less of a follow up to last year’s Peaceful The World Lays Me Down and more of an obvious exercise in catharsis for lead-singer and writer Charlie Fink’s shattered heart, The First Days Of Spring is not likely to garner commercial success, but it should reward listeners who find themselves in the correct mood. Gone are the more overtly poppy elements that made songs such as 5 Year’s Time a success, replaced instead by ominous, brooding arrangements that gradually build into mournful ballads of love and loss such as the title track and Our Window.

First Days Of Spring is essentially an intricate journey through heartache, with songs such as My Broken Heart and I Have Nothing giving way to the more optimistic Blue Skies and My Door Is Always Open. As a concept album then it’s certainly an interesting proposition: simple yet affecting lyrics, such as on I Have Nothing (“I would be anyone to be at your side”), are woven in with simple guitar strums and mournful backing vocals, meaning that The First Days Of Spring’s biggest achievement is to that it manages to create an emotional impact with so few elements, instead relying on the the energy and emotion of the band to carry the message.

The problem is that a lot of it is so slow and stripped down that sitting down for a listen is virtually impossible unless you’re in the right frame of mind. Otherwise it may seem ever so slightly dull. When you do feel up to tackling it however, The First Days Of Spring reveals something beyond a record for mass consumption.

As an album however, it’s far from perfect. Tracks such as Our Window and Slow Glass have instrumental passages that reek of self-indulgence, detracting from the song rather than moving it along, and the two instrumental tracks add precisely zero to proceedings. Thankfully though, songs such as the amazing, choral Love Of An Orchestra, or a sweeping violin arrangement, are never far Just so long as you’re in the right mood to appreciate it.

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