Articles by Paul Blinov

​Rich Aucoin's 'Release' Was Almost Titled 'Death'

PUBLISHED May 14, 2019

The colour-blasted skull that stares out from the cover of Rich Aucoin's new album, Release, is his own.   The Halifax-based musician had a...

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn

The Exclaim! Questionnaire

PUBLISHED May 7, 2019

As the frontman of the Hold Steady, Craig Finn's character-driven tales of massive nights and bad decisions have anchored the band's blockb...

Craig Finn

I Need a New War

PUBLISHED Apr 25, 2019

"I've been keeping up with payments, man / I've been managing the pain," Craig Finn offers at a warm mid-point on I Need a New War. The son...

Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra

Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)

PUBLISHED Mar 28, 2019

Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3 took 15 years to become a hit. After premiering in 1977, a 1992 recording gave the then-living composer an...

Jenny Lewis

On the Line

PUBLISHED Mar 22, 2019

"I've been searching for the heart to tell you something," Jenny Lewis offers on "Hollywood Lawn." "I could get down on my knees / I've had...

The Faint

Egowerk

PUBLISHED Mar 19, 2019

For the better part of the Faint's 20-plus-year career — from dance-punk pioneers to enduring electro-pop stalwarts — their true calling ha...

Light Conductor

Sequence One

PUBLISHED Mar 6, 2019

If the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey overshot the great apes and instead appeared before a mid-'00s rock band, the moment might culmi...

Praises

In This Year: Ten of Swords

PUBLISHED Dec 6, 2018

In tarot, the ten of swords represents a bottoming out: a low point to pull yourself out of or succumb to, depending. As a title, it sits p...