REVIEW: Rob Finlay – ‘Sunset | Darkness | Sunrise’

There are records that look to entertain, and then there are others that speak to an emotional core. Rob Finlay’s latest EP ‘Sunset | Darkness | Sunrise’ is firmly in the latter camp as a collection that pulls you in, heart first.

Split like a dramatic arc, the EP traces a journey from devastation to healing with an intimacy that feels earned. Finlay has never been one to shy away from exposing the marrow of his experience, but here, the weight hits harder. The lush and sweeping arrangements elevate his lyrical prose, matching the emotional stakes step for step.

Opening with a sense of slow-burning ache on ‘All Eyes Surrender’, the first track unfurls like dusk settling over the wreckage of something once beautiful. The middle section of ‘Afterglow’ and ‘Ballerina’ dips into darker terrain with swirling guitars and percussive tension conjuring the feeling of being trapped between what was and what might never be again. But just when it threatens to drown you, Finlay brings us up for air. The closing moments of ‘In White’ are radiant, like that first real breath after grief has kept you underwater for far too long.

Vocally, Finlay moves between gravel and silk with ease, his phrasing steeped in the kind of vulnerability that can’t be faked. There are echoes of late-night Leonard Cohen and glimpses of early Jeff Buckley, while he still manages to carve his own distinctive direction as it plays.

What sets this EP apart, aside from the pedigree behind the scenes, is the honesty. These songs walk their own line, quietly devastating and ultimately redemptive.

If you’ve ever found yourself staring out of a train window, wrestling with a love that left too soon, or a version of yourself you thought you’d lost, this is your soundtrack.