Craig Finn’s Clear Heart Full Eyes is what you might expect for the first solo album from The Hold Steady’s frontman — which is to say, it plays to his strengths as a lyricist and storyteller. Musically, Clear Heart is more stripped-down than The Hold Steady’s ruckus but still is plenty muscular, leading it to feel like a “maximum folk” record, one that trades in folk and country methods but with rock force. You picture sitting at Finn’s feet as he sings tales of dubious heroes (“When No One’s Watching”), 9-5 bleakness (“No Future”) and other detail-ridden odes to the characters in between. Fans of Finn’s band should be pleased that he hasn’t gone soft by going solo for this outing, as Clear Heart presents perhaps the most fitting backdrop yet for Finn’s brand of beer-soaked literary blues.

Also available on LP.