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Mar 25, 2022 By Mark Redfern Photography by D. James Goodwin

The Hold Steady’s frontman Craig Finn has announced a new solo album, A Legacy of Rentals, and shared its first single, “Messing with the Settings.” A Legacy of Rentals is due out May 20 via Positive Jams/Thirty Tigers. Check out “Messing with the Settings” below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art. Finn has also shared a trailer for the album, which is also below.

Finn recorded A Legacy of Rentals with longtime collaborators, producer Josh Kaufman and engineer D. James Goodwin, in May 2021. The album also features saxophonist Stuart Bogie, backing vocalists Cassandra Jenkins and Annie Nero, and the rhythm section of Joe Russo (drums) and Michael Libramento (bass), as well as a 14-piece string section arranged and recorded by Trey Pollard at Spacebomb.

Finn’s last solo album was 2019’s I Need a New War, although in 2020 he put out All These Perfect Crosses for Record Store Day (it featured outtakes, demos, and acoustic tracks).

“Memory is a major theme through A Legacy of Rentals,” says Finn of “Messing with the Settings” in a press release, “and I wanted the first song on the record to open on that note. This song is literally a eulogy. It’s delivered by someone who has lost touch with the recently deceased but still finds them important. Musically, it really explores the line between talking and singing, which was something we leaned into on this record. We wanted to make this song an incantation of sorts. It also features the beautiful 14-piece string section that played on a lot of these songs. I wanted to it have a cinematic feel, like Gone With the Wind or something like that.”

Finn had this to say about the album as a whole: “The title A Legacy of Rentals acknowledges that we can never completely hold any of our possessions, and that our bodies are merely a temporary residence for our souls. All moments are fleeting. After the destruction of the past few years, I believe that there is joy in each and every living action, however mundane—walking to the kitchen, missing a train, spilling coffee, cleaning it up, meeting a friend for a meal. We all want to be remembered. We all want our time here to be consequential. In taking these daily actions, we engage in hope, and we guarantee our unique place in history.”

A Legacy of Rentals Tracklist:

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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