We’ve often joked that Finn makes music for trying times. His records have traditionally toed a careful line between melancholy and euphoria; deep angst balanced against an immovable optimism. But A Good Place came together during especially trying times — when hope was difficult to find and the promise of brighter days became more and more of an abstract concept. This is a record conceived and released against a heavy backdrop of palpable tiredness and malaise, its title track borrowing a phrase from New Jersey’s Backroom Productions: “just can’t rest / when there’s trouble.”
The artwork for A Good Place is a beautiful woodblock cut by Al Wootton — sunshine and clouds peeking through a bedroom window. A deep melancholy is still present, but Finn’s trademark positivity is less sharp than before: the joy is dreamier, foggier and out of focus.