Brisbane multi-instrumentalist Fin Taylor has been around the Brisbane music scene for quite a while now performing in bands Dave Is A Spy, Ocean Leavesas well as Shakes Fear & the Skeleton Gang. His latest project Fin’s Contingency Plan impressively manages to hold onto the catchy pop sensibilities of predecessors Dave Is A Spy while turning up the weirdness, creating a sound that is simultaneously accessible and experimental. Rolling out his Procedurally Generated EP earlier this year via weekly music videos for each of the five tracks, Taylor then enlisted the help of fellow Brisbane musician Aiden Bradley to re-mix and master each track for the final EP release that we hear today.
Taylor’s musicality is on full display with creative genre combinations and effective use of diverse instruments that include everything from the legendary DG20 electric guitar (of course made legendary by Flight of the Conchords) to the euphonium. The releases’ variation is made clear upfront with the opening two tracks: the ukulele and synth driven Sorry, Mister Williams and the eclectic I’m (Not) Back, Baby. The EP’s centrepiece Pants On Fire is a wonderfully layered theatrical pop tune that manages to combine all the best aspects of the release into a tight and charming four minutes. What I Had To Say is a tastefully entertaining throwback to 2000s pop-punk, which is topped off with a fantastic chorus and guitar solo. The EP’s magic continues right to the very end with closing track No Song Today, a funny, relatable track about procrastinating. It surprisingly begins in a beautifully stripped back manner with just vocals and acoustic guitar until after the first chorus.
Fin’s Contingency Plan’s debut EP is a wonderfully entertaining genre collage that is easy to recommend to anyone who enjoys smiling. Listen on Spotify HERE.
This review is courtesy of Phoenix Radio’s Emerge program, hosted by Calen Le Couteur and Russell Thompson. Follow Emerge and tune in on Monday nights 7-9PM HERE.
