Nearly seven months after his debut album, Spree, upcoming pop star Asher Finlon has released his dynamic second studio album, Infinity Coup. Let the albums’ starting line set the tone for the journey that the album takes its listeners through (“Prayers I know don’t often shield our kind”). Through the ups and downs of different moments in life, Infinity Coup captures the beauty within it all. Whether it's through the more tender moments on the record [“infinity (prayer)”, “Lying Art”, “Name On A Stone”] or the moments of pop music perfection [“Idiot Freak Anthem”, “Don’t Speak At All”, “Shadow”], Infinity Coup displays Finlon’s talent through an endless spectrum of strengths. Chatting with Asher Finlon over Zoom shows that his dedication to his artistic vision is focused on crafting an authentic space within his art. Finlon explained what led up to the creation of the albums’ intro track, “infinity (prayer)” by stating “I did have “Spree (intro) on Spree and I feel like that was a cool way to start a pattern…I thought it would be kind of an interesting, tender way to open such a crazy, chaotic, project because it goes from “infinity (prayer) to “Infinity Coup”, which is just madness all over. I kind of thought it would just be like a more honest way to open an album that is fun and does sound really insane but is, I mean, at its core kind of sad, real life, honest lyrics.” What became clear as Finlon walked through the album track-by-track was his attention to detail in knowing what was needed, whether it be for an individual song or the whole album.
The album’s title track, “Infinity Coup”, came together after piecing a demo from when Finlon was 17 with another song that he had been working on. “Proper Gander” came from a song that is a part of one of Finlon’s unreleased albums that he knew he wanted to eventually come back to. “That original song was called Propaganda, and I always loved that song but I knew at this point, I really wanted to redo it because it wasn't just to my standard and I didn't think it was good enough yet… And then in October or November, I was like, okay, like I'm just going to redo it because I have the spot for it. I just love that song,” stated Finlon. That same dedication shines on “Don’t Speak At All”, which was the result of endless months of work, and served as the second single off the album. Throughout the variety of tones throughout the album, Finlon is aware of each piece of himself he puts in his music. On the entrancing “Meant to Be Seen”, Finlon creates what may just be the heaviest moment on the record. “It's very hopeless. It's a lot of doom in that song, which I try not to always do because then I'm just like, “Oh crap, I don't even feel better after making a song,” but I think it was just the right amount of like reality in the lyrics”, stated Finlon. A moment where Finlon does, however, feel the relief of making a song lays within a song like “Idiot Freak Anthem”. While talking about one of the standout tracks of the album, he claimed “I don't know why, but writing the song [‘Idiot Freak Anthem’], listening to it after it's done, I'm like, oh my god like I feel like Asher Finlon. I think the writing on that song is like one of the most important writing moments on the record…I had such a good time making that song. That's definitely my song of being 20…I kind of have a song for like every year or like every calendar year that I'm alive, and that's definitely that one.”
Within all the music lay a variety of influences and nods to the people who mean most to Finlon. “BMN", the last song made for the album, was inspired by The 1975, the 2014 tumblr era, and the “country vocal muscle that yearns to play”, according to Finlon. The post-chorus of “Allowance” is sung by Finlon’s friend and roommate Josie, who appears alongside him on the album cover. “Gboy-Tropica” shouts out one of his best friends, Kate, who Finlon explained is basically his manager and muse who’s “a big club, house, and pop music mega fan”. All the inspiration and tributes are far from a distraction, as Finlon also finds importance in being able to pull inspiration from himself and his own growth. “Of course you can pull inspiration from other people and other things, but when you can pull it from yourself, that just makes it that much more original. That's really important to me. I've made albums for fun in the past just because I liked doing it, but I can listen to those and be like, okay, this is what I like and this is what I don't like, or, this is the idea that I was shooting for. It's fun to see what my vision was because it's so different now,” Finlon elaborated. The kind of growth Finlon seeks to find within his own work shines brightly throughout the variety of sounds that are on Infinity Coup. The final two tracks on the album, “Lying Art” (which has gained sixty-five thousand streams in just three months), and “Name On A Stone”, hone in on an emotional presence and maturity that can only come with experience. Rounding out such a sonically diverse album with those vulnerable and forward lyrics display what Finlon does best, never forcing himself into a box. In every way possible, Asher Finlon’s Infinity Coup is a rewarding and triumphant sophomore album that is living proof of a promising future for the state of pop-music it boys.
- Logan Bandi
