Always Been
2025 studio album by Craig Finn
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Always Been is the sixth solo album by the American musician and the Hold Steady member Craig Finn, released on Tamarac Recordings and Thirty Tigers on April 4, 2025.[1] The album features the members of the War on Drugs backing Finn.[1]
| Always Been | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 4, 2025 | |||
| Studio | Boulevard Recording, Hollywood One Cue, Burbank | |||
| Length | 44:12 | |||
| Label | Tamarac Recordings and Thirty Tigers | |||
| Producer | Adam Granduciel | |||
| Craig Finn chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Always Been | ||||
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Release and reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Mojo |   [2] |
| MusicOMH | [3] |
| New Noise Magazine |  [4] |
| PopMatters | 6/10[5] |
| Record Collector | [6] |
| Spectrum Culture | 78/100%[7] |
Writing for Mojo Magazine, Andrew Perry states that it "charts the fall and redemption of a clergyman lacking in faith, but such is the novelistic depth of Finn's fiction that there’s ample room for familiar blue-collar tropes (fiscal strife, domestic tension, drinking, upping sticks to start over), plus lashings of trademark Catholic guilt."[2] In a Paste Magazine review, Hayden Merrick wrote that the album "presents Finn’s most cohesive overarching story. Usually working with capsule standalone vignettes that connect thematically but not directly, he instead constructs an extended epic centered on an ex-reverend", noting that "What’s unique about Clayton compared to other Craig Finn-penned protagonists is that his protracted journey of self-improvement necessitates a rejection of the road", he concludes by saying that "Craig Finn gives us more hope than ever within Always Been's pages, but that hope only arrives after tragedy."[8]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Bethany" | 5:49 |
| 2. | "People of Substance" | 2:59 |
| 3. | "Crumbs" | 3:43 |
| 4. | "Luke & Leanna" | 3:30 |
| 5. | "The Man I've Always Been" | 4:07 |
| 6. | "Fletcher's" | 5:39 |
| 7. | "A Man Needs a Vacation" | 4:49 |
| 8. | "I Walk with a Cane" | 4:36 |
| 9. | "Clayton" | 3:55 |
| 10. | "Postcards" | 8:05 |
| Total length: | 44:12 | |
Charts
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[9] | 38 |
| UK Americana Albums (OCC)[10] | 12 |
| US Top Current Album Sales (Billboard)[11] | 47 |