Last week, as he continues touring his great 2024 album FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD!, FINNEAS and his band made a stop at the Coca-Cola Roxy in Atlanta, turning in a sweet, 20-song set spanning tracks from his entire career. Whether it was a cut off his 2019 EP Blood Harmony, like “I Lost a Friend,” or the always-great “Only a Lifetime” from Optimist, FINNEAS brought the juice to Georgia. He even played “Happy Now?” after losing a game of rock/paper/scissors with a fan during the show.
In 2024, FINNEAS was one of our digital cover stars, as editor Matt Mitchell traveled to the Grammy winner’s studio in Los Angeles to chat about FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD. “FINNEAS is putting out a document of togetherness,” they wrote. “FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD! is as in-the-moment as a record can get, existing in service to the space it was completed in. The pomposity exists because all of these musicians—Morris, Forbes, Ricky Gourmet, Matthew ‘Rat’ Fildey and Lucy Healey—got together and made the thing, writing, singing, recording, workshopping and bouncing feedback off each other one day and one song (or two) at a time.”
“FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD! offers songs with a lot of made-up details, but the fictionality is delivered within the context of authenticity,” Mitchell continued. “The people around FINNEAS are believing in what he’s saying. Everything explodes into life on the album, as the walls of the Frogtown studio don’t feel like they’re closing in quite as tightly as they did throughout his last album, OPTIMIST. FINNEAS’ arrangement on his sister Billie Eilish’s ‘L’AMOUR DE MA VIE,’ in particular, and the way the soundscape turns inside out via a non-sequitur, was some of the most inventive and exciting work he’s done, and that translates into his own material, as ‘Cleats’ and ‘Sweet Cherries’ oscillate through yummy tempo shifts that sink their hooks into you through intoxicating, funky medleys.”
Check out our photos from the show, captured by our pal Donny Evans, below.
Bad Suns
