[REVIEW] The Favors Offer a Striking, Compelling Debut Album with ‘The Dream’

★★★★½

Comprising close friends FINNEAS and Ashe, The Favors have brought tender songwriting and heart-swelling harmonies to the fore on debut album, The Dream.  

Opening conversationally on ‘Restless Little Heart’, the pair trade musings over softly touched piano keys. Title-track 'The Dream' sets the tone more directly, moving through the gears and showcasing the qualities that go to make this a great debut. ‘The Little Mess You Made’ was the first track this group ever released, and in the context of the album it still holds up as one of their very best. The melody is playful, and the harmonies between the pair are exquisite. The latter is true across the whole record - the combination of their voices is truly divine, and something that goes far beyond skill alone. It’s in the intermingling of their voices that the real emotional core of the album is found. 

Another highlight is found on ‘The Hudson’. It’s one of the tracks where both artists feel most vulnerable, with thoughtful songwriting standing out. Of FINNEAS, it feels like one of the strongest projects we’ve heard from him anywhere. The production on The Dream feels complete and interesting, and his vocal performance is refreshingly natural. 

I was admittedly less familiar with Ashe prior to this project, but she’s someone who’s very easy to be impressed by, giving vital perspective across the album. She carries a great emotion in her voice, as well as holding the thread of a story, and as previously mentioned, it blends superbly with that of her counterpart. 

One thing that shines throughout is the closeness of the two artists. It feels like the stories they are telling could only come from a place of genuine friendship. It’s a record that’s unafraid to touch on the personal, though always done poetically. ‘Necessary Evils’ is a perfect example of this, as is ‘Lake George’ on the back end. 

There is some indulgence taken here and there, with big productions poking their toes over the line of theatrical. Moreover, in the same week that ‘Buckingham Nicks’ is finally unleashed onto DSPs for the first time, it can be hard not to feel the Fleetwood Mac influence here. Perhaps stylistically more than anything, with those on photography duty for each album cover clearly working from the same palette. There’s also the name, whilst not exactly wheel-reinventing anyway, it does sit close to the name of one of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest and best songs. However, in a roundabout way, the complete indifference to these seemingly obvious similarities gives the impression of The Favors remaining totally true to their vision. Had they been thinking about the Lindsey Buckingham-Stevie Nicks dynamic, surely they wouldn’t have flown so close to the lofty heights of their sun? Maybe I’m the one that’s overthinking it here? 

A feature from producer-collaborator marinelli on the second-half, whilst not at all bad, does feel slightly out of place. It feels like we’re on this odyssey of a journey with our two main characters, who we have totally fallen for at this stage, then in the second to last scene, there’s a new character introduced. Perhaps it’ll grow on me. Speaking of slightly out of place, the disco-influenced ‘Home Sweet Home’ is another outlier. Again, however, it does sound great, offering insight into where the band could go next. In a way it feels like the first chapter of the next story, rather than the last of this one. 

The strength of the love between FINNEAS and Ashe can be felt all over this album, and it’s impossible to get wrapped up in. The production is immense, and the merging of their voices in beautiful harmony is totally addictive. This is a hugely likeable, if slightly messy debut, and one that I have no doubts will be returned to time and time again.