Q&A - Finn Brodie

Glasgow based indie-folk musician Finn Brodie will release his enchanting EP ‘Home Run’ on 25th August, with the impressive debut featuring five emotive, heartfelt tracks that mark Brodie as an emerging talent to watch out for.

In the lead up to the release of ‘Home Run’, Brodie shared the exquisitely rendered single ‘Ready, Set’, a moving and musically captivating meditation on old loves, lingering memories, and new beginnings.

Finn Brodie has been writing songs and playing gigs since he was 15. Now in his 20s, he has relocated to Glasgow and having come out as trans, his songs are awash with emotion and his unique sound is emerging gracefully and fully-formed.

What was your approach to writing and creating this? Can you tell us more about the creative process?

My approach to writing songs has changed a lot over the last few years. I used to write songs about stories I’d heard or my friends' lives and since coming out as trans that has changed completely - now my songs are a lot more personal. I’ve started to use my writing as a way of sorting through the things I’m thinking and feeling.

I wrote these five songs over the last four years, so the EP has been a long time in the making. ‘Thief’, the second single, was the first one I wrote, and ‘Home Run’, the title track, was the most recent. Even though my life has changed a lot over the last four years, I think that there is a really clear theme running through all these songs (even though this wasn’t deliberate!). 

Apart from ‘Sacred’, which I wrote with my amazing friend and musician Sol Edwards, I wrote all of these songs on my own (in my bedroom). I tend to start with chord patterns, then sing melodies over the top and do lyrics last. I think this gives me a fair bit of freedom when I’m writing - I usually have no idea of what I want a song to sound like, and I think when I sing words off the top of my head they’re usually more personal and honest than if I’d written them down first.

I recorded ‘Birthright’ and ‘Thief’ almost a year before I recorded ‘Ready, Set’, ‘Sacred’ and ‘Home Run’. I went into the studio with the incredible Andy Monaghan (of Frightened Rabbit), who has recorded and produced my music for the whole of my career, not really thinking that I’d make a whole EP, but just wanting to get two singles down. Andy is an amazing musician and producer and tends to have a really clear idea of where he wants to take a song, which is one of the reasons I love working with him. 

We recorded the title track from the EP, ‘Home Run’, most recently. It’s a song about going easy on yourself and knowing that at some point you’ll get where you need to be and it’s okay to take a breath and enjoy the journey. I hope this is the lasting feeling people get from the EP. 

What makes you unique to other indie-folk musicians? 

Honestly, I’m not sure my music is especially unique! I love so many indie-folk musicians, it’s definitely what I listen to most, so I think that shows in my music. I’m not a trained musician by any means, I didn’t study music and I have no drive to create something that’s especially technically impressive. I just love making music and I hope that is clear in my songs and that people connect with them.

I do (these days) always write about my own experiences, and sometimes I worry that people won’t connect with the songs if they can’t relate to exactly what I was going through at the time. For example, not everyone is a trans person who has experienced not being able to come out! But I do think everyone has probably felt out of place at some point in their life and everyone has felt the pressure of other people or society's expectations of them. So hopefully people can relate to the feelings the songs are conveying if not the literal content. 

Is there any advice or words you'd like to share to someone else coming out as trans?

I wrote a tiny (secret) (not so secret anymore) message to trans people on the back of my EP vinyl and CD. I think it says ‘you’ve got this’. That’s my advice really - you can do it. It’s probably going to be hard, but it’s definitely going to be worth it. But I think my other piece of advice would be that it isn’t ever too late to come out. It’s never too late, so there’s no rush. Take it at your own pace, find safe places to be and safe people to talk to. Look after yourself along the way.

Finally, what can we expect from your upcoming Hug & Pint show on the 9th Sept?

I am so excited for this gig! It is my first headline show since coming out and I can’t wait. I’ve got the unbelievable Lewis Ross and Melanie Baker supporting me, and a full band, so you can expect lots of harmonies and laughs and sad songs (and maybe a tiny bit of dad dancing). Hopefully see you there!

Finn Brodie plays the Tiny Changes stage at Connect Festival in Edinburgh on 25th August 2023 and headlines The Hug and Pint in Glasgow for his EP launch on 9th September 2023 with tickets available here.

Follow Finn’s Instagram here