Craig Finn And The Uptown Controllers – “Galveston”
It’s been four years since the Hold Steady’s last album, Teeth Dreams. Through a lot of that time, the band has popped back up occasionally, whether to play shows marking the 10 year anniversary of their landmark Boys And Girls In America or to drop exciting double singles into our midst without any further hint of new music.
But their frontman, Craig Finn, has been working steadily on the side as well, releasing two solo albums since Teeth Dreams — first 2015’s Faith In The Future and then last year’s We All Want The Same Things. A lot of Finn’s work might not be as discussed as his main gig, but it isn’t hard to find Hold Steady fans who appreciate it just as much; new music from this guy, in any form, is usually reason to be excited. And today, just as Hold Steady’s been returning with little snapshots, Finn’s also offered up a standalone solo cut.
Premiering over at Noisey, “Galveston” is Finn’s contribution to a split single with Kevin Devine. (It’s from an installment in a series called Devinyl Splits in which Devine always partners with another musician; his collab with Finn marks Vol. 7.) It’s a road-worn, wizened journey back into Finn’s vision of contemporary America, with instrumentation that skews pretty and autumnal. The track also ends with the very Craig Finn lines of “Seems like the faith we attain is a function of how much we suffer.” Check it out below.
Devinyl Splits No. 7 is out 3/30 via Bad Timing Records.