A Lover Was Born

Things get off to a glorious start with the uplifting ‘Prove My Love’ – a stirring and anthemic song that sits somewhere between Chicago soul and Muscle Shoals, Alabama – its powerful female backing vocals are supplied by long-time collaborators, Kimiko Joy and Viveca Hawkins.

The Northern Soul stomper ‘Get A Hold of Yourself’ is another of the album’s upbeat moments – a red-hot track that rips it up and owes a debt to the songs Isaac Hayes and David Porter wrote for The Soul Children and Sam & Dave.

For this album, Finnigan assembled an impressive list of friends to help him craft his sound, including Max and Joe Ramey (The Ironsides), Jimmy James (Parlor Greens), Sergio Rios (Say She She / Orgone), Joey Crispiano (Dap Kings) and Jay Mumford (J-Zone).

“I spent a few days hanging out and writing music with my friend, Joey Crispiano, in New York, at his place in Staten Island – we developed ideas and chord structures and parts,” he explains, adding: “I did the same back home in the Bay Area with my friends The Ramey brothers from The Ironsides.”

He also wrote a few songs on his own, in California and Ohio, telling hi-fi+: “I wanted to make a record that felt like the next natural step after my first solo album in 2019 – a lot can happen in four or five years, and that was the case for me. I experienced some big valleys and peaks during the last few years, and I wanted to wear that on my sleeve.”

The most personal song on the record is the emotional ballad, ‘All That’s Left’, which deals with the death of Finnigan’s musician father in 2021 – it’s stunning, with a delicate and timeless string arrangement, and it sounds like a classic vintage Southern Soul ballad that Otis Redding could’ve sung.

‘Cold World’ is the most political song here – a moody social commentary that tackles the greed and power in contemporary America, while ‘His Love Ain’t Real’, which is the darkest track musically, has lush, dramatic, and brooding orchestration, and was influenced by the productions of Jerry Ragivoy and Thom Bell.

It’s certainly a smouldering moment on the album.

‘(Love) Your Pain Goes Deep ‘and ‘Be Your Own Shelter’ dig into Isaac Hayes’s back catalogue for their inspiration – Finnigan says Hayes is the musician who’s had the most influence on him – while ‘Chosen Few’ has a wickedly funky groove and almost a hip-hop feel, thanks to the beats, bass and horns. The splicing and sampling of hip-hop culture has always been a big part of Finnigan’s musical education.

He is a huge fan of vintage gear – all the basic rhythm tracks and some of the horn parts were recorded on an eight-track, half-inch Otari tape machine that was running at 15 inches per second, and then transferred to Pro Tools, where some overdubbing took place – Finnigan then mixed it down on a console to a two-track, quarter-inch Ampex tape machine.  

A Lover Was Born isn’t afraid to put its influences to the fore – it’s in thrall to so many classic soul sounds and vintage recording techniques – but it also comes across as fresh and contemporary, which is a neat trick to pull off.

“I know it sounds like a cliché, but I love what I do, and I feel extremely lucky to be in a position where I get to wake up every day and create music that brings people joy,” says Finnigan.

Well, Hallelujah to that, and long may it continue.

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