Craig Finn - A Legacy Of Rentals

Solo release from the Hold Steady frontman

Craig Finn visits some lonely, romantic haunts on his way to rock bottom on his 2022 solo collection A Legacy of Rentals.

Best known as the singer of the Hold Steady, Finn is a Minnesota-bred singer, songwriter, and guitarist based out of New York City. Combining literary influences such as Jack Kerouac and John Berryman with the musical influences of Bruce Springsteen and fellow Minnesotan Paul Westerberg, Finn's highly descriptive lyrical style has a strong focus on narrative, crafting whole worlds for the people in his songs to exist within.

A Legacy of Rentals, Finn's sixth solo record, was produced by Josh Kaufman and recorded by D. James Goodwin at The Clubhouse recording studio. The themes of the record explore memory — how we remember our loved ones, the places in our lives that have changed, and recent events that are part of our pasts.

In "Break From the Barrage," our protagonist is passed out drunk and alone at a superhero matinee in a movie theater at a suburban mall. In "The Year We Fell Behind," a couple is despondent and overmedicated in their neglected home, where the air grows thick with houseflies and unspoken resentment. In the closing song, the narrator stands among the wreckage after a wild party and surveys the destruction: "This is what it looks like when we're joyful," he reminds himself.

Taking inspiration from songs such as "Wichita Lineman," Finn worked with producer Josh Kaufman to coat the music in a sweet, sentimental glow that adds a layer of longing and wonder to his solitary stories. It is his first release to prominently feature strings-a 14-piece orchestra arranged by Trey Pollard at Richmond, Virginia's Spacebomb studio. And although they have worked together in the past, Cassandra Jenkins' presence feels newly crucial to the push-and-pull of these narratives. In elaborate story-songs like "Messing With the Settings" and "A Break From the Barrage," she adds bursts of melody between the desperate spirals of Finn's spoken-word delivery; on a more traditional ballad like "The Year We Fell Behind," their voices fall into a kind of round, reaching a climax in the closing 90 seconds that feels uniquely beautiful within his catalog.

Granted, the word "beautiful" means something different in these songs than any of Finn's past records, writes Pitchfork. With his most recognizable project, the Hold Steady, acoustic instruments and tender subject matter often appeared like intermissions — a moment to catch your breath, to briefly let in the light to see what these characters were blocking out with their reckless behavior and emotional grandeur.

A Legacy of Rentals follows what Finn has called a trilogy of solo records — 2015's Faith in the Future, 2017's We All Want the Same Things, and 2019's I Need a New War — and it feels like a fresh start, building from those albums' increasingly adventurous sound and their turn toward unglamorous, real-life characters.

 

1. Messing with the Settings

2. The Amarillo Kid

3. Birthdays

4. The Year We Fell Behind

5. Due to Depart

6. Curtis & Shepard

7. Never Any Horses

8. Jessamine

9. A Break from the Barrage

10. This is What It Looks Like

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