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The Finches

Human Like A House

(Dulc-I-Tone; US: 30 Jan 2007; UK: 29 Jan 2007)

Human like a House is the debut full-length album from San Francisco folk group the Finches. This winsome group floats somewhere between the Waifs and the Bird and the Bee in the female vocal folk-pop category, but their appealing tunes never seem indebted to those groups. Calm, country-tinged acoustic guitars and bass, an occasional banjo, and Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs’ smooth voice—with these simple ingredients the Finches sketch calm and childlikeness. On “Goettingen, Du” the mention of a “soup that’s warm” perfectly paints an idyllic view of home. But on “The House Under the Hill”, the Finches miss the vivid portrayal of childhood that distinguishes tracks like Josh Pyke’s “Middle of the Hill”. The CD also features some impressive artwork, with a series of etchings (a collaboration between the singer and artist Keegan Mchargue) in a handsome booklet. As restricted as it is by genre, this small-scale release offers some charming moments.

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Dan Raper has been writing about music for PopMatters since 2005. Prior to that he did the same thing for his college newspaper and for his school newspaper before that. Of course he also writes fiction, though his only published work is entitled "Gamma-secretase exists on the plasma membrane as an intact complex that accepts substrates and effects intramembrane cleavage". He is currently studying medicine at the University of Sydney, Australia.


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20 Sep 2006
Simple but assured, this EP sets the stage for a promising career from the Finches.
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