FINNEAS - For Cryin' Out Loud!: (Guest Review)

This is a special guest review written by all-around smart girl Alice Fulmer. She stopped by to share her thoughts on producer, songwriter, and Billie Eilish affiliate/sibling Finneas' new album For Cryin' Out Loud!. <3

Review by Alice: 

There’s something to be said about songwriters who are better at songwriting for the masks and voices of others, than for themselves. While I don’t mean to poke at sore spots more than necessary, I think Finneas O’Connell (sometimes styled as FINNEAS) – better known as the co-songwriter and frequent collaborator of his younger sister Billie Eilish – struggles to find his voice on the aptly named For Cryin’ Out Loud! (2024). There is a longstanding misogynist criticism of his sister, that she isn’t “talented” because her brother “writes all her music”(he doesn’t). I actually think that it could very well be the other way around. I want to stress I don’t admit this lightly. His last album, Optimist (2021), is relatively unsung and at least better than this.  I returned to the album frequently during 2022, particularly the tracks “A Concert Six Months from Now” and “Medieval”. The former a ballad that dealt earnestly with COVID-era heartbreak and the latter a rather infectious meditation on fame. But I will relent on 2021’s releases, and convince Lav’s lovely audience that the title For Cryin’ Out Loud is the epitome of the average reaction to this underwhelming album.

You could say from the beginning that Finneas has worked himself into a corner, as the album cover has him posing disaffected in the corner of a room. Paradoxically, the official press release for the album marked the album as “steering things away from the bedroom producer mentality and to a classic studio/band environment”. Hey Finneas – you’re GREAT at being the bedroom producer! I understand wanting to move on from one’s past as an artist, but frankly, I don’t believe the press release. The opening track “Starfucker” is a would-be trite, heartbreak anthem, and leverages his proximity to fame. I am interested in the album’s lounge act inklings though, especially “What’s It Gonna Take To Break Your Heart?” and the pop-ish Modest Mouse track “Cleats”, the most standout track next to “2001”. It’s a pining, blue-eyed soul hipswinger that would go great with an 808 drum and heavier bass on any dancefloor. But more than anything with this album I find myself not only skipping tracks but wondering about its production’s cohesion. The backing band is all over the place – her sister’s alum guitarist Aron Forbes, “R&B punk” DAISY’s guitar Matthew Fidley, and drummer Miles Morris from the alt-rock outfit Bad Suns, among others. Finneas “made a point to be hyper-collaborative” during the writing, recording, and producing of this album – but collaborating on what exactly? For as much as the opening guitar riffs in “Sweet Cherries” are earworms, the song is quickly derailed halfway through with a pointless bridge. Like…what were you thinking dude?

 

I want to emphasize that I don’t valorize being a hater. But this album is really disappointing to someone (me) who has been in awe of Finneas' (and Eilish’s) songwriting for years. Maybe it’s unfair for me to compare or even invoke his sister in this discussion. But I just do not understand the fundamental disconnects in his solo discography. This is an album with some worthwhile songs but ultimately has no direction. This is an easy 3/10. 

For more pop, check out Lavender's review of Billie Eilish's HIT ME HARD AND SOFT

To keep up with more of Alice's writing, check out her Substack!