It isn’t hard to imagine some of the music you might find in the more regularly played end of Finlay Birch’s record collection. Listen to “Weight Will Unwind,” the title track from his forthcoming debut album, and it is not hard to hear the drift and dream of Nick Drake, Elliot Smith’s slightly melancholy tones, Bon Iver’s delicate wisdom, or the sparseness and shade of Leonard Cohen.
But that isn’t to say that you have heard it all before, anything but, and even if this is an artist who knows where he is coming from, which proverbial giants have provided the shoulders for him to stand on, this is an artist looking firmly to where things go next. This is the sound of tomorrow, but in a naturally evolutionary rather than radical or revolutionary sort of way.
At just over two minutes, there is a satisfying brevity at work, the sound of an artist who understands that you don’t need to outstay your sonic welcome, just make your mark and move on. And welcome it is, a cool mixture of folk finesse and indie-pop contagion, a song built on a simple acoustica and beat but then soaked in beguiling vocal washes, a song ebbing and flowing deftly to create an interesting dynamic, and a set of lyrics that is both poetic and poignant, personal and, ultimately, universally relatable. Relax, it says, don’t worry, others are here to help…a sort of “He Ain’t Heavy” for the modern age.
Wise words, and ones that are more welcome, more relevant in today’s complex and mentally challenging world than perhaps they have ever been.
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