Finch and Say Hello To Sunshine
February 21, 2006 – 10:09 pmI have a new album that I would like to add to my own personal debate of best rock album of all time. The album is titled Say Hello To Sunshine, and the band’s name is Finch.
Most people that recognize Finch know them from their very popular album of a few years ago, What It Is To Burn. That album was much, much more radio friendly than their “new” album is. You can tell it’s the same band if you listen to both albums, but there is absolutely no guarantee that if you like one you will like the other. From what I have read, I am one of the few people who have really enjoyed both albums.
Whenever I buy a CD, I give myself at least two full listens before I decide whether or not I want to listen to it again. If after two full listens I’m completely turned off by it, I’ll just put it away and rarely (if ever) listen to it again. An overwhelming majority of the time I’ll be sufficiently intrigued after two full listens to give it a third listen. Sometimes a fourth follows. And so on.
Finch’s newest album took me five full listens before I was completely on board. Say Hello To Sunshine is one of those albums that sounded almost completely chaotic to me the first time I listened to it. The second time it was slightly less so. By the fourth time, I had enough familiarity with the first few songs that I was starting to get into them. By the end of the fifth listen, I was familiar enough with all the songs that I could start to pick out the ones I really liked versus the ones I just liked a lot.
I do not dislike any song on this album. And one song in particular, Bitemarks and Bloodstains, may be one of the best three or four rock songs I have ever heard. The primary reason the album is so beautiful is because it almost completely throws out the tried-and-true formula of guitar lead, followed by verse, followed by chorus, followed by verse, followed by two choruses back-to-back, with a nice instrumental exit to the song.
It is almost as if Finch just started playing the songs, followed the path that seemed most natural to them, and then recorded just that. The songs are more complex than what I have heard on most other albums in the sense that many of them could be divided into two or three separate songs that could stand on their own. But putting them all together just seems to make a great deal of sense and results in the awesome feeling of listening to a rock album and realizing you’ve never heard anything quite like it.
4 Responses to “Finch and Say Hello To Sunshine”
So, I’ve just listened to most of the clips from their two albums listed on allmusic.com, and here’s what I think:
Based solely on the clips, their first album, What It Is To Burn, is entirely too made-for-radio/cookie-cutter for me. It’s too generic. I would never lay down money for something like this without having given it a couple full listens.
Their second album, however, might actually be worth something. Again, this is based solely on the audio clips, but it seemed darker and more original. I still don’t know if I would end up liking it, but it’s one that I could see myself liking. I may have to borrow it from you, Jeff.
In fact, I think I need to skim through your music collection sometime. I think that what you like/buy tends to cover some of the gaping holes in what I buy. I might be able to find some albums to fill the “pop/rock” holes in my collection.
By Adam on Feb 23, 2006 at 12:02 am
You are certainly more than welcome to borrow any of my CDs whenever you’d like.
By jjk on Feb 23, 2006 at 8:49 am
I couldn’t agree more with this post.
You really hit the nail on the head, there is a certain beauty in the chaos on this album that makes it amazing. It makes me a little sad that more people don’t take the time to see, or hear, that. I listen to albums the exact same way you do and I have found all my favorite albums in that fashion. Music with dept usually takes a few times to ‘get’.
Regardless it’s an amazing album.
By Joe on Jan 2, 2008 at 7:08 am