- Words Josephine Amstad
Gen-Z rising star, Finn Askew, selects 10trax for Notion that have inspired him, from Nirvana to The Neighbourhood.
Hailing from Wellington, a sleepy Somerset town in the English countryside, Finn Askew is proof that nowadays, it doesn’t matter where you’re from to make it big. After a successful year playing sold-out shows across the UK – including Reading & Leeds fest – Finn Askew’s unique multi-genre sound has seen his streams rocket into the millions.
Now, Finn Askew returns with his new EP, ‘Tokyo’, a six-track investigation into Finn’s musical identity. ‘Tokyo’ refuses to subscribe to one genre, rather, it encompasses a variety of sounds that more readily represent who Finn is as a musician. Inspired by artists like Lil Peep, Matt Healey, and Frank Ocean, Finn’s new EP alchemises everything from emo rock and indie to R&B and pop. In essence, Finn refuses to be put in a box.
Expanding on the project, Finn explains: “This EP feels like the start of Finn Askew for me. I definitely believe the sound of this one compared to my first EP is closer to what I wanna be as an artist. I wrote this project over the past year and I feel like it is just a pure collection of my feelings! I hope you love it as much as I do.”
With an exciting year ahead and plenty of shows in the pipeline, expect to see a lot more of Finn Askew. In celebration of the release of his upcoming EP Tokyo, the rising star kindly picks out 10trax for Notion that have informed his sound in one way or another.
"agony" by Yung Lean
"When it comes to Yung Lean he inspired the ep in terms of his lyrics, they are really obscure & out of the box. Especially in this song, everything just hits."
"Hollywood's Bleeding" by Post Malone
"Post Malone is one of my biggest inspirations regardless but this song captures a sense of darkness that I wanted to explore within the ep."
"Afraid" by The Neighbourhood
"Growing up the neighbourhood were one of my favourite bands, I feel like this song resonated the most as to what I was tryna go for in the ep as whole. The production on all of the neighbourhood songs was definitely a big factor of how mine came out."
"Come As You Are" by Nirvana
"I’ve always been heavily influenced by Nirvana & especially Kurt Cobain. The lyrics he uses as well as his melodies are unmatched and there’s no one else like it, never will be."
"The Charming Man" by The Smiths
"A lot of the time when writing on guitar I try and avoid 'standard' chords, I feel like Johnny Marr was a big influence when it came to this. His chord progressions etc are some of the best ever."
"MAYBE" by The Kid LAROI
"I’ve been listening to kid LAROI for years now, can claim I was there before he blew up. I feel like me and him have some similar flows, I take inspiration from him especially when it comes to my second verses where I switch it up usually."
"Ivy" By Frank Ocean
"Frank Ocean's story telling is still the best in the world. The thing I’ve learnt the most from him is that even though to some people his lyrics sound like nonsense, he could explain the meaning super well. Something's always gonna mean something to someone, interpretation."
"Dear April" by Frank Ocean
"daffodil was heavily inspired by this Frank song, one of his most beautiful songs."
"how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?//" by KennyHoopla
"The grit and rockiness of KennyHoopla is something I wanted to capture in this ep, Kenny is definitely gonna be one of the biggest rockstars on the earth."
"Summertime in Paris" by Jaden & Willow Smith
"When listening to this song it always paints such a heavenly picture in my head, I love pairing pictures in peoples minds with my music so this is something I wanted to make sure I did on every song."