"Maybe I was fatigued from all that optimism," Craig Finn chuckles as he compares his downtrodden solo album to the upbeat works of his band, The Hold Steady. If there's one word to describe his new work, it's fatigued. "Clear Hearts Full Eyes" was furiously composed and recorded during one of the hottest summers in Austin, Tex. While the album echoes the rollicking guitars and rhythm of Tom Petty, the lyrics deliver a more exhausted message — Finn is tired of the world. From the resentment of fakes in "When No One's Watching" to the sarcasm of "New Friend Jesus," Finn spits out the anger of Green Day and skinhead punk to the folksy drum and beats of The Black Keys.
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Finn's style is a throwback to older, simpler arrangements. Most of the instruments are recognizable and familiar — mainstays of guitar, drum and bass — a far cry from the dubstep and dance beats of most modern music. "New Friend Jesus" even incorporates a banjo. Despite the small number of instruments used, producer Mike McCarthy, who has worked with Spoon and Trail of Dead, has managed to drench your hearing with the sound of these familiar instruments. Yet the nostalgia of the album doesn't stop with Finn's instrumentation.
"Clear Heart Full Eyes" is predominately an album of lyrical storytelling. Listeners slowly fall into the sarcastic and old-fashioned world that Finn creates with each song. It's a relief to hear the words at the forefront. Unfortunately, some of Finn's lyrics lack the melody to make for great songs, and the words lose some of their strength as a result.
Finn's songs admittedly contain splashes of clichéd story tropes, like the devil befriended and disloyal husbands. These ideas, however familiar, still ring true. Finn explains the title of "Clear Heart Full Eyes" means "Clear Heart, a heart that is open [and] full eyes — having seen a lot, your eyes remain full." It seems that the years with The Hold Steady have taught Finn the same lessons learned by many, lessons of broken hearts and cynicism. But the cracked strength of his voice resuscitates these old ideas as something fresh. Finn's familiar songs and earnest performance remind us that though these ideas and emotions have been done and felt before, that doesn't mean they hurt any less.
