Craig Finn calls I Need A New War the conclusion to a trilogy he began with 2015's Faith In The Future and continued with 2017’s We All The Same Things. but like so many rock ‘n’ roll triads, it only came into focus in hindsight. At its outset, neither Finn nor his fans assumed he was on a grand journey; he was merely experimenting with softer, quieter territory. By reuniting once more with producer Josh Kaufman—along with drummer Joe Russo and engineer Dan Goodwin—Finn puts a capstone on a period of exploration that has yielded richer results than anyone imagined, possibly including Finn.
All three records share a subdued palette that stands in stark contrast to the barroom roar of the Hold Steady. The moody smear of saxophones, keyboards, and guitars suggest a noir netherworld pierced by lone shafts of color in the form of rousing horns and choirs. Finn spends as much time speaking as singing, and the gently cresting result can feel a bit like a collection of lullabies for adults. This is music designed for twilight.
All these sly, subtle arrangements shift attention directly upon Finn's songs, which withstand such close scrutiny. More than ever, Finn feels more like a short-story writer than a singer-songwriter. New York City as a presence and an idea looms over the record, but you don’t need to know the first thing about the place to have these songs resonate. Every one of Finn’s characters exists in a recognizable world, one where disappointment is commonplace but despair is rare.
Finn's sardonic humor and empathy appears to have deepened with age. The narrator of “Something To Hope For” celebrates the silver lining of an insurance payment delivered after an accident work—a perfect Craig Finn character. It's this humanism that distinguishes I Need A New War from its partners in Finn's loose trilogy, and helps the record stand alone. In its quiet way, it radiates with all of the intensity of the Hold Steady’s scrappiest cuts. Finn has already built a sturdy legacy, but his solo records yield their own durable pleasures: I Need A New War shines like a beacon of light in a dark time.
