Simon Finn – Subjunctive Mood

The story of the miraculous come-back of Simon Finn may be known by now. He started performing in the London folk scene of the late 60’s. In 1969 he got to chance to release an album called “Pass the Distance”, of which only a small number came into circulation. In the years that followed Finn kept writing songs, but only in a private setting. Untill he got in touch with David Tibet of Current 93 a few years ago, which gave his musical career an unexpected impulse.

Simon Finn’s debut LP was reissued on cd on Durtro/Jnana, followed by an album of newer work, entitled “Magic moments”. He is closely related to Current 93, being a member of their live band and often playing as support act. The EP “Subjunctive Mood” with five exclusive songs was originally released for the concerts by Current 93 and friends in Canada last year, but is still available.

Finn can be called a traditional folk singer, using nothing but his voice and acoustic guitar to play quite simple melodies. As you’d expect from a singer-songwriter, he does not bring happy songs, but sings about the miseries of life and love. Sometimes socially/politically engaged, but often his themes are more of a personal nature. Finn has a rather raw voice and his guitar strumming is not highly refined, but his music works because of the honest and passionate nature.

I think I would have liked these songs less if I hadn’t seen Simon Finn perform live. Now I imagine his passionate performance when listening to this EP. On cd Finn sounds a bit more restrained, on stage he can utter his frustrations in quite fierce outbursts. My favourite songs of this release are the melancholic title track and ‘Rich Girl With No Trousers’, a song about a doomed relationship with the memorable lines ‘Don’t take my memories / they’re mine / Don’t take that away / it’s what makes our lives shine / Without my memories / I am blind’.

artist: Finn, Simon
label: Jnana Records
details: mcd, 5 tracks, 2005 [DURTRO JNANA 1957CD]