At the end of last month ‘The Hold Steady’ frontman Craig Finn released his debut solo album, ‘Clear Heart Full Eyes,’ on Full Time Hobby Records. It all came about when The Hold Steady took a four month break leaving Craig in need of something to do.
The album title reflects his approach to the solo venture: keeping an open heart and relying on experience (eyes) and not being jaded in his view. He approached it with an air of seriousness and optimism with his first challenge being to write a song a day in his Brooklyn based apartment. After this it was a case of thinning out the the weaker songs, he ended up with 23 songs which he sent to album producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead) who he had met a year earlier.
“I had written a bunch of songs that were outside of the norm for The Hold Steady, a little quieter and perhaps more narrative…I wanted to gain some experience and insight into the process of making a record by working with new people.”
Craig headed to Austin, Texas to record the album, a whole different feel to his native Minnesota…over a few days conceptualising the songs with Mike the musicians turned up and things began to rapidly take shape…
Tracks
The Making of Clear Heart Full Eyes
Tiny Desk Concert on NPR
Clear Heart Full Eyes
is released on Full Time Hobby in the UK (Jan 23).