Label: AWAL
Released: 6th June 2025
Finn Wolfhard has been making music in some capacity since 2017. First with his band Calpurnia until they split in 2019 and then with The Aubreys, which he formed with Calpurnia drummer Malcolm Craig. ‘Happy Birthday’ is the first time he’s made music just him, without huge input from anybody else.
The album was born out of a challenge to write 50 songs by the end of 2022, and with a few of those going to The Aubreys, Wolfhard then noticed that a lot of the leftovers had common themes relating to different aspects of navigating life as you transition into early adulthood. Nine of these songs would eventually become ‘Happy Birthday’.
The opening title-track is only 91 seconds long, but it’s still enough to make listeners spiral over their own life decisions as Wolfhard urges them to “stop wasting precious time”. It’s suitably followed up with ‘Choose the latter’, where the subject of being unable to choose which path to follow in life is disguised under a bright guitar melody.
Much of the album follows this pattern, pairing darker themes with upbeat melodies. ‘Objection’ centres around completely losing yourself in a relationship for better or worse and sounds like it would fit right in within the early catalogue of Chicago indie-rockers Twin Peaks.
‘Wait’ closes the record and is where we get a real feel of just how intimate the recording space was. It’s the most stripped-back of all the tracks, featuring just an acoustic guitar and Wolfhard’s voice. There’s an odd sense of quiet about it compared to the rest of the songs, so much so that you can hear the high-pitched whistle of a kettle.
‘Happy Birthday’ is Finn Wolfhard finding his feet both as a solo artist and an individual post-Stranger Things, and it marks a big step forward for the singer in his creative journey.
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