Finom

Chicago’s Finom – the band co-fronted by Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, formerly known as Ohmme – announce their new album, Not God, out May 24th via Joyful Noise Recordings. In conjunction, they presents its alluring lead single/video, “Haircut,” and announce record release shows in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. Finom’s influences run vast and varied, and they put a premium on change. Produced by Jeff Tweedy in the The Loft, Not God is a marvel of growth, a progression from the roots of this collaborative band whose history can be traced back to its improvised conception. This is owed in no small part to their hometown of Chicago, the life raft to so many persisters in musical adventurosity. That energy combined with Finom’s dramatic vocal and musical gifts puts them in the peripheries of the legacies cemented by The Roches, Roxy Music, the B52s, Kate Bush, Cate Le Bon, and Wilco.

Pressing play on Not God, you’ll hear two voices. Cunningham and Stewart both sing, yet there is no question as to who is who. These are two artists with pronounced identities, and as they weave themselves into the songs they write those identities grapple in real time. They’re brilliant harmonizers. But harmony doesn’t equate to a utopia; Harmony can also be a fight, holding the line until the volcano erupts. This realistic depiction of a creative relationship jolts throughout the songs of Not God, and brings the whole damn thing to life. They grow together, harnessed by their shared loves of pop songwriting, honesty, and being generally freaky-deaky. Freaky in that way that is only really fun when you’re doing it with a friend.

It’s only fitting that on today’s “Haircut,” Finom blend their voices and sounds together in perfect disharmony. It’s the album’s starting gun, setting the stage for a confident attempt at the pursuit of maturity on the stage of experimental rock and roll in the realm of sonics and songwriting tradition, as well as the eternal experiment of being in a band. The accompanying video, directed by Alex Grelle, is joyfully eccentric. The band elaborates: “‘Haircut’ was written following the stream of suggested words from Macie’s phone robot. Somehow this intelligence intuited that we wanted to say ‘no’ more– to control more of our own time. Alex Grelle, one of our favorite artists and collaborators, directed the video for us with a genius group of artists. We were inspired by this strange and beautiful France Gall short film that Jeff and Spencer Tweedy showed us while we were recording.”

Throughout Not God, Finom wields an innate sense of humor with ease, filling you with gratitude that powerful art can move your molecules while not taking itself too seriously. It’s another secret to growth, a final number in the combination lock of how to make maturity not an absolute drag. The ride we’re on is all just a little bit funny, even when it’s completely devastating. And the globe spins and advancements advance, it can feel essential to return to relationships that make us feel whole, that generate energy of strength and relief. While their last album, 2020’s Fantasize Your Ghost explored “what it means and how it feels when you’ve become a stranger to the life you once knew,” Not God sees Cunningham and Stewart fully familiar, continuing to pledge allegiance to each other, at the base of the volcano, in the front seat of the car as it pulls off the highway.