This is a short time for most artists, but especially ones who are working with purposefully different material and unknown (to them) musicians. It should also be noted that the musical atmosphere of Austin is a world away from Finn's Minneapolis roots and current home in New York. However, as the album is named, Finn went in with honest intentions and his own experience, and came out with a straightforward, earnestly-performed album full of rich details to be discovered on every successive listen.
The first track is the spectacular "Apollo Bay." It's pensive, conflicted, dripping with spacey lyrics and Catholic guilt, hovering just above all-out weirdness with a throbbing beat that turns it dead sexy just before a keening slide guitar hints at Austin's alt-country trademark. That slide guitar is a subtle clue ringing out from a psychedelic landscape, a tell that Finn is out of his element but backed by musicians he can trust. Although he recorded on a break from the Hold Steady, he is not at all alone.
Although much of "Clear Heart Full Eyes" has a definite country influence, there are a few tracks that are textbook rock 'n' roll. Another one of my favorite tracks is "No Future," the bleak subject of being dead on the inside punched up by a very Springsteen-esque melody and cheeky declaration that Finn will take advice from no one but Freddie Mercury and Johnny Rotten.
Finn's flat, narrative voice is too distinctive to leave the Hold Steady completely behind, as is his writing style. He's still not really a singer, but the more mellifluous vocals he began using on 2006's "Boys and Girls In America" are trimmed back again for something like occasional spoken word. His songwriting is affected by a similar paring down, something more contemplative and appropriate for a solo project and less so for a rock band. Finn still swims in complicated phrasing and big words, though, wielding his literary references in thoughtful riffs about speed, people he used to know, and Jesus.
There's a lot of Jesus on this album. Jesus is a favorite subject of Finn's, appearing on previous Hold Steady records as the tragic and mystical Son of God. On "Clear Heart Full Eyes," though, a Southern twang transforms him into a dashboard rider of the church radio station, always present and, in songs like the aptly-named "New Friend Jesus," a sort of benevolent pal through tough times. This is Finn's strongest departure from the Hold Steady on this album, but as he sings, "It's hard to suck with Jesus in your band."
I mentioned that much of this album is heavily influenced by country music. I don't get the sense that Finn is poking fun at the genre, but musically, sometimes the "howdy folks" factor is laid on pretty thick. "Terrified Eyes" sounds like a line dance at a Texas roadhouse, all loopy cowpoke guitar and clip-clop percussion. The honky tonk rhythm of "Honolulu Blues" is a little less goofy, and a smooth segue for "Rented Rooms," which occasionally smacks of "Certain Songs" from the Hold Steady's 2004 album "Almost Killed Me."
On "Clear Heart Full Eyes," Finn reflects on his previous efforts and personal failings. Song after song is a litany of the things people think about just before they go to sleep, when every bad thing they've ever done comes back to them in the dark. Finn has described most of the songs on "Clear Heart Full Eyes" as about being alone. While "alone" could be construed as a finite space inside someone's head, I heard a wider plain of loneliness underscored by missed opportunities, ruined chances and lyrically-rich regrets. The final songs on the album, the sweetly sad "Balcony" and the fiddle ballad "Not Much Left Of Us" are about watching recently lost loves fall away, Finn vacillating between affection and resignation. All the while, he continues to write his list of regrets, which will someday be tucked away somewhere in his stacks of books, some of them probably about Jesus.
KDHX welcomes Craig Finn to Off Broadway on February 10.
