The boys of Noah & The Whale are young. They don't have any wrinkles and reference the films of Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach in their work. They may not wear beards or thick-rimmed glasses to show their intellectual prowess, but the songs speak for themselves. Harnessing Belle & Sebastian's joyful orchestrations and lyrics (both cutesy and profound), this lot is definitely wise beyond their years.

How old are you guys?
Doug: We range. Less than a hundred. Average age about twenty-two. And the range is nineteen to forty-three. Eighty-eight combined.

How long have you been around as Noah & the Whale?
Charlie: A year and a half, but really about eight months. Maybe a year. It's actually our anniversary today.

Happy Anniversary!
All: Thank you!

When I first found out about you guys I thought the band name was an amalgamation of bible references, but I'm pretty sure due to your choice in font and colors that it's meant as a nod to Noah Baumbach and The Squid & The Whale.
Charlie: I guess we're really big fans of the film and liked how the words sounded together. You've obviously sussed it and for the people who don't immediately suss it, it's a nice little puzzle for them.

And the other thing is you guys wear Life Aquatic colors.
Charlie: It's our favorite Wes [Anderson] film. Between that and Rushmore.

So is it a secret ambition to be a part of the Zissou Society?
Charlie: That's no secret. It's the only reason we started this band.

Tell me abut the record.
Doug: The difference on this record is that it was all written and ready as soon as we went in. So it was quite a quick recording process. Maybe three weeks in the studio.

The instrumentation is pretty intricate. There's a lot going on.
Doug: On the record-it's not that far removed, but it does have a different sound when we play live. There's a bit more distortion and percussion.

Are there any cymbals? I notice you don't use any live.
Doug: No, never. No need. My hi-end is my tambourine.
Charlie: There's kind of two reasons. One is that it's too annoying with cymbals. I can't bear to play in a band where he plays cymbals.
Urby: If you rehearsed with Douglas Fink and cymbals you'd understand.
Charlie: He seems to basically want to play the soundtrack to everyone's conversation with his drums. The positive flip side is that when you're forced to limit yourself you always get a bit more inventive I think. I think by only having three things to hit, you've got to think of interesting things to do with them.

Would you ever want Noah Baumbach to find out about your band?
Charlie: I don't know, he'd probably think it was really lame. They named a band after me? What a bunch of losers.
Doug: I think it's important to emphasize that while we agree with the spirit of the film, I wouldn't say that his influences inform the songs' messages. That's a whole separate idea. We don't want to say that we agree with everything he's ever said. That we want to be like Noah Baumbach and live in New York or whatever, it's more a kind of atmosphere.

-IL/SK