It’s amazing that I can still discover music that blows me away and makes me think, “wow, this is the best music I’ve ever heard.” And to top it off, the artist usually has a whole catalog of music for me to obsess over. When this happens, I can’t help but send Spotify links to everyone I know because I’m ecstatic.
Back in 2017, I stumbled upon an album called “Boys and Girls in America” by a Brooklyn-based band called The Hold Steady. Listening to it felt like the lyrics were written about my early 2000s life by someone who grew up listening to big stadium rock like Bruce Springsteen. The album was filled with songs about oxycontin in Boston, falling in love in small hippie festival acid freakout tents, and Adderall. I played that album so many times that I practically wore it out, and made everyone I knew listen to it.
Yesterday, I found myself in that familiar headspace where I consume music en masse, trying to discover something new. And that’s when I discovered that the lead singer of The Hold Steady, Craig Finn, has a ton of solo material available. Let me tell you, this stuff is brilliant. The millennial, Americana, cynical narrative lyrical style feels like someone is writing the kind of songs that I want to hear, about the things I've been through . it’s all nice and new wavey a d of course any horn section arrangements in rock music are always welcome in my book.
Whenever I come across music this good, I can’t help but share it with anyone who will listen, hence this blog post.
https://open.spotify.com/track/6WAJ4MnIAm3AaOQl0UkGHO?si=lH6oTBtFRU6hX6y7SDOFpg
