Youth is so great. At some point in the near future, I’m sure, Cloud Nothings (or whatever moniker Dylan Baldi is recording under) will record something boring, or a ill-fated concept album, or just run out of ideas (ala Conor Oberst), but at the moment, he’s breathlessly racing through his ideas like there isn’t enough tape to capture them. And that’s why we get a third full-length in as many years, this one spilling over with new ways to distill his love for hooks. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
