Meet Finches, the duo ready for a spot on your playlist with new track "Ooooo" - we chat Y2K fashion, their current obsessions, and a shared love for Kate Nash.

Welcome to Fresh Face, a quick-fire interview series spotlighting the best rising talents in today’s youthful music scene. From biggest pet peeves to party tricks and death row meals, we’re stripping things back from the formal Q&A format. Think of it like speed dating, but with some of the freshest music makers worth discovering.

There’s a greater room than ever these days for pop music to explore the less glamorous and less polished sides of life – in other words, to let be musicians be as messy and chaotic as we all are in exploring our own feelings. Into that breach step Finches, a new musical duo who have been working on their own brand of what they call “insecure pop”.

 

Their references range from some of the cream of the contemporary indie crop such as Wolf Alice and Arlo Parks to more nostalgic folkers like Sparklehorse and Elliot Smith, shot through with an honest and self-deprecating sensibility that makes them ideal spokespeople for the anxious Generation Z.

 

Finches’ new single “Ooooo” is a shot of pure vulnerability and introspection that already feels trademark for them. On the song, they say, “The combination of introspective songwriting and cinematic production creates an angst-fueled anthem, uniting listeners who have experienced the feeling that you’ll have to change who you are in order to satisfy your partner in a relationship.”

 

In their own way, they’re exuding the confidence of artists who know exactly who they are and have accepted it unquestionably. It’s an exciting approach with a huge amount of potential for the future, so we chatted to them about…

The biggest misconception about being a musician?
That you spend all your time making music… We do spend a lot of time writing songs, playing shows, and in the studio, but there’s so much other stuff to do as well. The video shoot for “Ooooo” was 8 days, and after that much time away from the music we couldn’t wait to get back to it. It’s crazy how busy your calendar gets when it gets close to release day too, it feels like we’re spending more time on zoom than we are writing songs at the minute.  

If you could revive one fashion trend, which would it be?

We both love the late 90’s / early naughties, basically anything that makes us look like we stepped out of Mean Girls, Gossip Girl or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dan likes to wear women’s clothes quite a lot, and Y2K women’s fashion is something that we like a lot. Baggy jeans and a crop top kinda thing, basically we’re just trying to look like Bratz dolls.  
One thing you want to change about the music industry?
The fact that Finches isn’t the biggest band in Britain yet. Nah, but genuinely we just really want to see the artists with the most talent succeed, make the biggest impact to culture and to peoples lives, and be paid fairly for it. We also don’t really like the trend towards big numbers all the time, we just want to play really good shows for people. The one person at the front of our show jumping up and down and screaming our songs back at us is who we make music for.
How can an artist stay original nowadays?
We think the best way for an artist to be original is for them to really try to represent their true self with their art. No two humans are the same, so if a your art represents you, its gonna be completely unique. Basically, if you like it, put it out. Dont listen to the people that tell you not to, they’re probably a muppet anyway. When it comes to coming up with ideas, we basically throw a load of stuff that we love together, and then let the subconscious work on it until something cool pops out as an idea. We’re always going to shows, exhibitions, taking time outside, watching films, talk to mates about ideas, and developing them into something that we think is really unique and interesting.
Three things that inspire you outside of music?

We’re both big film watchers, well, except Daniel can’t shut up for more than 20 minutes at a time, so there’s a lot of unwanted commentary, arguments, and rewinding. Oscar is also a Director, so we definitely get a lot of inspiration from Films we watch.We try to make our music videos reflect the films we love to watch. Our latest music video takes references from Requiem for a dream, Gummo and Trainspotting.

 

– Streetwear / Fashion –  Dan is a big fashion lover, spending money he definitely doesn’t have on clothes, buying brands that everyone thinks are rubbish just before they blow up, and then seeing people wearing them 6 months later.

– Our manager Sam – basically our second father, makes sure we go to bed on time. We love you sam xoxo 

What are you currently obsessed with?
We know everyone has already seen this, but the Kanye documentary was MAD, don’t want to drop any spoilers, but the first couple of episodes were really inspirational. We’ve also been watching the Beatles one too, basically any documentary with lots of BTS studio content. We’ve also been rinsing Jurassic Park and the Batman movies. 
What’s your party trick?
Dan: I can do the flick-up thing. 
Oscar: I’m quite good at leaving early without anyone noticing. 
What song always gets you hyped when you hear it in the club?
Foundations – Kate Nash 
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Oscar: Pesto Pasta. 
Dan: Nah shut up it’s definitely tomato pasta. Either way it’s pasta.
Biggest goal for 2022?
After we’ve nabbed our Brit, we’ll probably just take some time off tbh. But seriously, we want to be doing a big tour by the end of the year, get some more of our songs out, show our fans some love. 
Never have I ever…
Dan: Never have I ever shat myself in the shower but I know who has.

Oscar: Never have I ever shat myself on a bus, but the person next to me has.

Watch the music video for "Ooooo" below: