Craig Finn: Clear Heart Full Eyes (a review)

In retrospect, the last Hold Steady record was the exact opposite of a sleeper – it sounded great on first listen, all hooks and guitar fire, but in the end felt paper thin, an album of an idea rather than of ideas, and outside of a couple highlights (“Sweet Part of the City,” “Barely Breathing”), I haven’t gone back to it frequently, preferring Separation Sunday or Stay Positive or even b-sides.

Which is why this new Craig Finn record is such a pleasant surprise – it doesn’t sound unlike a Hold Steady record any more than an Extra Glenns (Lens) record sounds unlike a Mountain Goats record (i.e. not much at all) as much as it sounds like an interesting sidestep from the pressure of making a record under the appellations of those bands – the pressure to make something that SOUNDS like a Hold Steady record.

So if it isn’t different, exactly, it’s interesting in its non-difference – the lyrics sound like classic Finn, but almost like he’s auditioning a new cast of characters, to get free of the ones that have haunted Hold Steady songs for nearly a decade. And the music wouldn’t be out of place on a Hold Steady record, but here everything is just a little bit muted, letting things play out calmly – fewer fireworks and more meditation.

Its the kind of thing that, in the end, feels like a risky way to make what is, essentially, a risk-free gambit. After all, I doubt anyone really cared if Mick Jagger made a crap solo album as long as the next Rolling Stones album was good – in the end, these kind of albums are usually, by definition, for fans only. The trick Finn pulls here, in all it’s laconic pacing and soft-rock instrumentation, is to make an album that will actually satisfy those fans as much as if he were releasing a new Hold Steady record. Nice trick.

Craig Finn: “When No One’s Watching”