Description
Label Review.
2017 album.
Our Overview.
Known to many as the lead singer of indie rock powerhouse The Hold Steady, Craig Finn is a Minnesota-bred singer, songwriter, and guitarist based out of New York City. Combining literary influences like Jack Kerouac and John Berryman with the musical influences of Bruce Springsteen and fellow Minnesotan Paul Westerberg, Finn's highly descriptive lyrical style has a focus on narrative, crafting whole worlds for the people in his songs to exist within. Over the years, his arrangements have mellowed, taking him from Lifter Puller's speedball intensity to The Hold Steady's rollicking rock 'n' roll to the moodier drift of his three solo albums.
After five albums with the The Hold Steady band, the singer and songwriter tried his hand at a solo album during some downtime from his main project, and in 2012 released ‘Clear Heart Full Eyes’ through Vagrant Records. In 2015, Finn dropped his second solo album; ‘Faith in the Future’, released by Partisan Records, was drawn from a set of songs inspired by themes of loss and survival that Finn wrote in the wake of his mother's death.
Craig has now returned with his third solo effort, ‘We All Want The Same Things’.and sees Finn exploring themes of love and partnership in the modern world, as ever expressed via finely etched character studies, black humour and smartly arranged rock & roll.
In a press release Craig said of the album title; “We named this collection We All Want The Same Things after a line in the song "God in Chicago." It seems like a bit of dark humor in these turbulent political times, but it also rings true: No matter our differences, we all have some very basic wants and needs that line up with each other. The characters in these songs are normal people trying to help themselves, trying to move forward, and in some cases trying just to survive. All the while, they are negotiating what space the others in their lives can occupy.”
“The usual themes, but tackled in a new form” - The Guardian.
“The effervescently charming American singer-songwriter is back with a dream-like sound” - The Independent.
“A deft reminder of everything we love about Craig Finn” - Clash.
“Finds Finn drawing more than ever on a love of Bruce Springsteen.” - NPR Music