On New Year’s Day, millions worldwide tuned in to watch, through many a tear-filled eye, Mike Wheeler of Hawkins, Indiana, put his D&D book on the shelf, and bring to a close one of the greatest cross-generational pop culture phenomena of this century, Stranger Things.
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For Finn Wolfhard — who for all his adolescence and young adulthood embodied that often unsung, increasingly gangly, Paladin-styled hero in the wildly popular series — it was time. It also meant more time to devote to music, Wolfhard’s concurrent passion, along with acting, writing and directing. That career has already had several manifestations: the Vancouver-based alt band Calpurnia; its offshoot project with Malcolm Craig, The Aubreys; and a solo chapter that launched last year with Happy Birthday, the most affecting distillation yet of a charming, lo-fi garage and punk sound that has come to be Wolfhard’s signature.
Now he’s back with the new Fire From The Hip, a second solo LP that finds Finn making his biggest sonic leap yet: brighter, more expansively produced and leaning into classic rock and country flavors like never before. Packed with immediate melodies and explosive hooks, it’s a crowd-pleaser, swinging for new, potentially more mainstream fences, and hopefully bringing in new devotees.
