I haven't forgotten about this duo, despite it being a few years since I reviewed an album by the pair. Back then, they were called Ohmme, and now they're called Finom. What hasn't changed is the supple pull of this duo's music.
Produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Not God, the new Finom album, bounces between rhythmic workouts (like the Tom Tom Club-echoing opener "Haircut") and more languid slow-burners (like "Dirt", a twang-y bit of business). In the center of this are the voices of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart. More than ever their partnership recalls material from The Roches, though there's little here that owes a debt to a folk-y tradition. Instead, there's a New Wave-infused sleekness to this which is blended with the pristine harmonies of Sima and Macie. The production and effects around their voices on "Hungry", to use one example, are clever and inventive in spots, but it's the vocals which absolutely slay on this number.
Where Not God differs from earlier offerings is on the selections where things are stripped back, with producer Tweedy favoring a more austere approach on those numbers. "Not God" and the breahtaking "As You Are" are pure showcases for the voices of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart. The starkly lovely pieces may recall artists as disparate as Laurie Anderson and Suzanne Vega, though Finom continue along their own path. Over the course of a bunch of releases, and other projects, Cunningham and Stewart have been building up to something like Not God. And, without hype, it's safe to say this is their best, more cohesive record to date.
Not God by Finom is out now via Joyful Noise Recordings.
[Photo: Anna Barlow]