FINN have been a staple of the music industry for a number of years now, with their memorable brand of blues rock garnering a bunch of fans across the country.
Following 2021’s Mayrose is Shorthand, a fresh journey through the mind of the four-piece. It’s full of that blues-rock styling we’ve come to love from the group.
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The album has been months in the making, frontman Mark Finn noting the palpable excitement as the release approaches, and gives an interesting insight into the album process.
“We’re really happy with the way it shaped up,” Mark notes. “I’m looking forward to getting it out there in the world.
“It’s a long process from when you first start with songs to recording them, to mixing them, to editing them, to mastering them. I think the hard thing is, when they finally do come out, it’s almost impossible to hear them as a fresh kind of thing.”
The whopping 20-track release brings the unique rock stylings of FINN to the fore, each song being lyrically deep and musically sophisticated. Mark explains the usual process for writing a FINN song.
“I pretty much am always just noodling on a guitar; I’ll just pick it up. I like to think about it as discovering a trail, you kind of find a trail, and then follow it.”
Through listening to Shorthand, it’s immediately clear FINN have chemistry unlike any other group out there, over the years finding the best ways to operate and keep it fresh.
“We discovered our formula and how things work, so there’s a lot of comfort and a lot of trust between us.
“I think the freshness is the most important bit,” Mark notes. “You play better when it’s fresh. The way we write and pick up instruments, I almost want a bit of distance. I don’t want to pick a guitar up like at times, for a couple of weeks or whatever, and then when you do pick it up, you pick it up this different way.
“All of our band play a lot of instruments, and we almost all like playing the instrument we’re not the best at because you’re almost forced to use your true ear, and you’re discovering things for the first time, so it kind of feels fresh.”
FINN have released a number of records over the last few years. There’s 2021’s Stonewalling and Mayrose, with Mark noting that 2022’s Shorthand is a step up from other works in the discography.
“I think it’s some of the best stuff that we’ve done. There’s a bit more kind of rock edge certainly in some in some of the tracks, I’m pretty pleased with how it’s come up.
“It’s always hard, It’s really hard to be impartial about it, but I’m pretty happy. I think it’s another kind of batch of work that is a little bit different and has some merit in some parts of it.”
Finn unveil new album ‘Mayrose’, a feel-good journey through the minds of the four-piece
Shorthand came to life in the same space as much of FINN’s back catalogue, their tight knit relationship with the studio helping the album come to life.
“We recorded it at Sing Sing Studios with Terry Hart; he’s the engineer, and an unreal musician, producer, musical expert, we couldn’t do anything that we do without him.”
Now that the album drop date is fast approaching, Mark gives us a bit of a deep dive into how it can be consumed, and what audiences can expect before they give it a listen.
“The album is the opposite of what everybody tells you you should do. I like to think of it as a degustation.
“We really try to really make records you work through, and you find pockets. It’s like a degustation six-course meal; there are a bit of blues there, at the start, then there’s substance abuse, tragedy stuff going on.
“Then there’s like a bit of grunge rock, then there’s a bunch of love songs and softer songs, then kind of like a cleansing palette at the end.
“But please interpret it however you interpret it, I don’t want to tell anybody how to interpret it. Hopefully some songs you like or find interesting.”
Shorthand drops Saturday, June 25. Find more from FINN here.
