***
Singer/guitarist Craig Finn’s first release without his band the Hold Steady “achieves the best thing a solo album can—to draw us closer to the person who created it,” said Jim Farber in the New York Daily News. Whereas listeners have gotten used to hearing Finn’s vocals engulfed by a tight band “in bracing sync,” this record “isolates each player, creating a portrait of aloneness in both sound and theme.” To help achieve this effect, the “wildly talented” Finn recorded the album in Texas, far from his Brooklyn comfort zone. Having the spotlight to himself, Finn makes this “first and foremost a ‘lyrics’ record,” said Jill Riley in NPR.org. “Subtle and mellow” arrangements push his vocals to the forefront of the sonic mix, allowing us to concentrate on his words. His themes—“religion, solitude, and change”—will be familiar to fans of the Hold Steady. Yet the continuity that really matters is this: “Finn is a great storyteller,” worth listening to in any setting.
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