Their new album The First Days of Spring doesn't drop stateside til October 6, but the latest effort from U.K.'s imaginative pop outfit Noah and The Whale, fronted by Charlie Fink, has already got the Brit crits falling over themselves with accolades: "grandiose beauty" (NME), "breathtakingly ambitious" (Mojo), "magical...inspired" (Q). And they're right this time. "Big picture music that remains grounded in melodic pop", we say. Want proof? Check out "Blue Skies"...Understated, elegiac break-up music usually doesn't sound quite this grandly cinematic. More here.

Noah and the Whale - "Blue Skies" (from the album The First Days of Spring)