Craig Finn – I Need A New War

Craig Finn’s fourth solo effort, I Need A New War, also serves as the third entry and conclusion of his current album trilogy.  It’s the continuation of Finn’s check-in with characters living in a greyscale world far from The Hold Steady’s early years of youthful rebellion.  Finn’s raison d’etre continues to revolve around the hapless realities of working class individuals that exist between the intersection of choice and chance.  What some songwriters might see as mundane, Finn develops into curious little expositions of the everyday.

Each song making up I Need A New War’s finely canvased portrait of ten tracks ignites a rich emotional flame.  Tracks like “Magic Marker” unravel slowly through subtle imagery like “scratching at the eightball in the back of the bar,” and “mostly taking orders and shaking cans of paint.”  Each detail of the protagonist’s fall from grace is believable, avoiding cliches of a set trajectory in an uneven climb back to “normal,” wrought with self imposed missteps and other tragic occurrences and characters.  Others, like “Carmen Isn’t Coming In Today,” are more focused on a specific moment in time, empathizing the defeated mindset that accompanies a daily routine made up of muted relationships and an unfulfilling career path.  

The musical score, constructed from hazy distorted instrumentals comes across like a somber slice of Mac Demarco.  It’s a little different from what we’ve come to expect from Finn’s musical direction, but the combination works in the context of each story.  Take “Indications,” which bumbles along with down and out descriptions and stumbling instrumentals featuring a big brass bridge that fits right alongside the fractured story.  Others like “Holysmoke” make for a slow burn, like embers lingering hours into a dying fire pit. “Her With The Blues” and “Her With The Blues” are even what you might call easy listening, with a sultry saxophone solo that glides like a gust of wind gently blowing a cloud through a dreamscape.  

You won’t find any grand anthems dressing up these stories.  I Need A New War is a very subdued conclusion to Craig Finn’s latest trilogy.  It’s far more subtle than previous entries, making its predecessor, We All Want The Same Things, feel like a rip roaring adventure by comparison.  But life isn’t always filled with optimism, of which I Need A New War serves as a stark reminder to listeners.  The songs are very mellow, making the album perhaps best listened to on your own in a quiet place.  I can only imagine that I Need A New War would make for an extremely intimate live performance.  So while it may not make the list of feel good albums of the summer, it will ultimately serve as a satisfying accompaniment to dreary cloud covered days best experienced from the dry side of a rain beaded window.