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Sep 10, 2015 Web Exclusive By Ryan E.C. Hamm

Perhaps all Craig Finn needed was a slight change-of-scenery—his latest solo album is his best work since The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive. Instead of chugging bar rock and singalongs, this album is filled with quiet moments and character studies. You’ve got the surreal 9/11 landscape of “Newmyer’s Roof,” the woman facing a boyfriend with a gun on “Sarah, Calling from a Hotel,” and the various, desperate dwellers of “Trapper Avenue”—none of these folks would inspire a rock anthem, but they fit Finn’s quiet chronicles here. He stays mostly mid-tempo (think Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire”), fitting the themes perfectly. Finn may be past recording the desperation and hopes of youth, but Faith in the Future shows he’s more than capable of finding beauty, hope, and meaning in the desperation of adulthood too. (www.steadycraig.tumblr.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10