Album Review: Finnegan Tui – Dusk

I’ll happily admit to being open to artists that remind me of Leonard Cohen and Jeff Buckley, and Finnegan Tui’s Dusk has a similar presence to both at times.

The London-based New Zealander isn’t a folk artist per se; the guitar and vocals on Someday flirt with the genre, and you can certainly hear shades of those vocalists in the prose-like lilt of the vocals and lyrics.

And yet, the deconstructed electronic washes that underpin the track come more from an indie and electronic direction. This isn’t dance music, far from it, even though the sweeping emotions of the lyrics will make your heart sing and dance, especially as the track resolves in an angelic drone.

I don’t know if I’m being influenced by the title of the EP, but Someday and Saviour // Sadist both seem to originate in that temporary and sometimes eerie flux of activity and silence that occurs just before day turns into night. And the lyrics of Saviour // Sadist come across as on the cusp of a resolution or realisation, talk of shadows dispelled by the beacon lit by the vocals. Moments of calm are dispelled before rising to the surface, as if Tui is seeking a moment of calm or control.

Wildflower, by contrast, is reflective, though the protagonist of the song seemingly isn’t alone, other than in his thoughts. But the crack of emotions in the vocals reflects a changing of the seasons, the passing of time. Here, loss is like that passage from day to night, yet there is no sense that dawn will bring renewal. For me, this is where Tui’s similarity to Cohen and Buckley is at its strongest: so visual, so emotive, so damn moving.

Beginning with birdsong, Summer Rain is pastoral and somehow cinematic; the reach of the lyrics is paralleled in the growing lightness of the arrangement and melody. Here, there is a yearning for a life to be lived, the increasing role for wind instruments leaving you uncertain that happiness and contentment are within reach.

Just four songs and under fifteen minutes long, Dusk packs in so much: emotionally, vocals, and in terms of the ideas that spill out in line after line, song after song. You can take the EP as a soothing diversion, but if you get deep into the lyrics, you’ll find yourself engrossed in what Finnegan Tui has created.

Richard Dawson’s End of the Middle album would be a fine companion piece for Dusk, as would Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain. They are artists that create their own worlds, their own sound, and even though you might find flickers of recognition from, say, the works of Bon Iver or Ben Howard here, Dusk exists in splendid isolation, even as Tui opens his heart and soul to the listener.

Dusk is out now and can be heard on Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and Spotify. To learn more about the artist, as well as the EP and previous releases, connect with Finnegan Tui on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.