Artist: Finneas

Album: Optimist***

The O’Connell siblings have been busy causing a stir with their avant-garde approach to pop music ever since the release of the irresistible ‘Bad Guy’ and its acclaimed parent album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019). The massively successful creative partnership between Billie Eilish and elder brother Finneas has earned the duo global recognition and a bucket-load of awards. Now the 24-year-old producer is striking out on his own with a debut set that is about as DIY as it gets.

Titled Optimist (ironically, one would assume), the self-written and self-produced record finds the singer-songwriter pondering about his life and the world around him in 13 tracks that may not be as offbeat as the standout work he has created with his sister. But, it still captures his innate ability to come up with pleasant pop tunes.

Parts of the album find Finneas sticking to conventions, especially when he is focusing on piano balladry with his warm vocals serving as the centrepiece on sombre tracks like ‘Love is Pain’, ‘Only a Lifetime’, and ‘Someone Else’s Star’. The lovelorn lead single ‘A Concert Six Months from Now’, meanwhile, echoes indie vibes as it puts together a strummed guitar and sentiments that reflect both lockdown blues and hopes for reconciliation.

The more sonically adventurous parts of the record yield some interesting moments (‘Around My Neck’) but can sometimes feel a little out of place (‘Medieval’) or downright clunky (the autotune-drenched ‘The ‘90s’). A weaker element of these tracks is often the overly earnest lyrics, especially when the songwriter attempts to offer social commentary and appears to be trying a little too hard to be topical; instead of insight, he often delivers on-the-nose observations that feel hollow and awkward.

Throughout Optimist, though, you can see glimmers of the same talent that helped make Billie Eilish a star, as the set captures Finneas’s pop crafting skills, but the album also proves that he needs to mature as a lyricist. But this is, after all, the debut release of a relatively young performer. And it effectively serves its purpose of introducing Finneas as an artist and setting the stage for all that is surely yet to come.

Highlights: ‘Only a Lifetime’, ‘Around My Neck’

Artist: Maisie Peters
Album: You Signed Up for This***

Mentored by Ed Sheeran and signed to his Gingerbread Man Records label, 21-year-old British singer Maisie Peters has released her debut album You Signed Up for This, a collection of pretty, mid-tempo pop ditties that bring Carly Rae Jepsen and Taylor Swift to mind.

Relationships, mostly of the failed variety, are the central theme of this record, and the 14 songs here prove that Peters has a penchant for storytelling and an ear for catchy melodies. Sheeran provides a hand writing three of these tunes, including the album’s primary highlight: first single ‘Psycho’, an irresistible synth-ridden earworm with an infectious chorus guaranteed to get stuck in your head. Songs with more distinctive musical backdrops (‘I’m Trying (Not Friends)’, ‘Boy’) easily stand out. But elsewhere, the bland, uninventive production makes some of the tracks (‘Outdoor Pool’, ‘Hollow’, ‘Love Him I Don’t’) feel samey and forgettable.

Overall, this is competently made, unchallenging pop music that is easy to enjoy, even if some of it doesn’t make much of a lasting impact. You Signed Up for This is likely to please young fans of artists like Jepsen and Swift, and the online following Peters has amassed over the last few years won’t be disappointed either.

Highlights: ‘Psycho’, ‘I’m Trying (Not Friends)’