Press

Jeff Finlin doesn't so much write songs as produce musical chameleons that adapt to their settings with remarkable ease.

Numbers that can sound at home in sparse, largely acoustic guise responded here to a fuller, bar-band treatment without greatly compromising Finlin's penchant for lyrical atmosphere. In fact, listening to the now Colorado-based Finlin fronting Londoners The Quireboys, who were doing a fine job despite being fairly hastily rehearsed for the task, Bruce Springsteen's championing of Finlin's music seemed all the more commendable. Because with his distinctive, nasal voice gliding over the band's economical, blue-collar rockin', Finlin sounded about ready to rub shoulders with Springsteen in the stadium rock league.

That Finlin has a talent deserving wider recognition has never been in doubt. As American Dream #109's disparaging lines about portion sizes and little houses by the freeway show, he has a way of capturing situations succinctly and then propelling them on memorable musical hooks. Delta Down and Postcard from Topeka, with their images of June bugs, cotton fields and war veterans turning to crime have the same terse qualities that marked out Steely Dan's Aja-era urban adventures, although in this situation they perhaps lack the latter's musical subtleties and orchestrated development.

No matter, the music's directness, no messin' guitar riffing and tightly-executed rhythms hit the spot with an audience that was disappointing in number but ready in its response, the closeness of the seating arrangements front of stage creating an intimacy that Finlin clearly revelled in. And judging from the queue for CDs afterwards, the conversion rate from interested attendees to committed fans was significant.

The Herald, Glasgow, 8 September 2006