Clean Cut is out now!
Image: Jeff Andersen Jnr.
Dreamy indie-pop sister duo Charm of Finches heave released their latest single ‘Clean Cut’. The track is the second single from their anticipated fourth album, Marlinchen in the Snow, which is set for release Friday 19 April 2024 via SPUNK! Records / Virgin Music Group and available now for pre-order. To celebrate, they have curated a playlist of songs that inspired the new album.
“We made our previous album with Daniel Ledwell a few years earlier over the internet, we were in Melbourne during the covid lockdown and he was oceans away in Nova Scotia Canada. We had such a great time working with him then, so we decided to go to his studio in person in the middle of February winter 2023 and bunker down for a month to make our fourth album. Clean Cut is the second single off the album which was written while we were on tour in Europe. Going on tour overseas ended up being the catalyst for a breakup and Clean Cut came out of that." Charm of Finches share.
We were keen to experiment with our songs sonically giving each one its own unique character whilst also having them all fit well together. We drew from our love for spacey indie folk and some nineties alt rock/trip hop trying to balance sweetness with a bit of grit channelling the badassery of some of our favourite female artists.”
TEARDROP - MASSIVE ATTACK
Such a classic song which we’ve loved for ages. We feel like this song has such a great balance of sweet melodic vocals and spacey bold production - those big chord hits on the keys and the reverby kit. A favourite reference in the studio.
SWIMMERS - ZERO 7, JEM COOKE
We love the space in this one and the way it feels like you’re suspended in the ocean while you’re listening. The echoey backing vocals in Swimmers inspired us to experiment with backing vocals in clean cut which you can hear in the intro panned left to right.
YOUR DOG JIMMY - HUSKY GAWENDA
Husky is one of our mates in Melbourne and he’s a killer songwriter! We love the laid back feel of this song with the up close vocals.
SAN LUIS - GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV
Gregory Alan Isakov is one of our favourite artists and this song has such a nostalgic feeling for us because we played it a lot while driving around the UK on tour and in headphones on long haul flights. We could hear the chorus a million times and never get tired of it!
ELECTRIC INDIGO - THE PAPER KITES
We were lucky to sing with The Paper Kites at Port Fairy Folk Festival back in 2022. This is one of our favourites of theirs, they are the ultimate dreamy indie folk band. When we were recording, we had a song that just needed an extra sparkle and we sent Sam a cheeky message asking if he wanted to sing on it - he then sent back the most perfect extra verse! We can’t wait for people to hear it.
ROADS - PORTISHEAD
Another nineties favourite. The rhodes piano on this is so haunting and sad. This was one of the reference track for our song Human which will be out on the album.
ABANDONED HOUSES - ADALITA
Adalita (singer from Magic Dirt) is one our besties here in Melbourne, we sing backing vocals in her band a lot. She’s the queen of vocal lines that you just want to sing at the top of your lungs. We love the vocal delay on this track and the timing change at the end - we were inspired to get more experimental with timing in some of the songs on the new record.
TAKE IT BACK - NORAH JONES
Nora Jones is such a badass and her sassy songwriting inspires us a lot! This song is another song that has both vulnerability and guts. We love the build at the end going from confessional to confidence - the driving drums, lush strings and the way her vocals cooly waft over the top.
MYSTERY OF LOVE - SUFJAN STEVENS
We had to include a song by Sufjan because he’s one of our all time musical heroes. This song features lots of textures that we love. Softly sung vocals on a hot mic that are then doubled - his signature move and something we love to borrow for our most soft and vulnerable songs. The soft picking of many stringed things in this make such a magical bed for the vocals. We think he puts foam in between/under the strings of the harp and guitar to make that soft muted sound. We used this trick in our song Gravity on our last album and used it again in Leave It All Behind on the upcoming record.
WASTED ON YOU - ANDY SHAUF
This song and the whole album ‘Norm’ brings us back to the little studio which we lived in for a month - we literally slept on a double bed that folded up into the studio couch. We used to listen to this album after a long day of recording as we cooked pasta on the little electric stove top that sat under the old synths hanging on the walls. Andy Shauf is so great with riffs - tumbling keys and embellishing strings. He’ll find a good thing and repeat it and we love that.
‘Clean Cut’ by Charm of Finches out now. Marlinchen in the Snow by Charm of Finches out Friday 19 April. The duo will hit the road in April / May to tour the new album. Head to their website for dates.
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