Rising Montreal Indie Artist kerri Finds Happiness with ‘Finish What You Started’ LP

Today. Montreal-based vocalist/producer kerri shares his first album in two years, the 19-track Finish What You Started. The raw, introspective LP combines selections from his first two offerings of 2023—February’s BUNNYHUG EP and May’s HURTING EP—with new tracks such as “Next Time I’ll Choose Love” and “WHY WOULD I GO ON?”

Finish What You Started introduces listeners to kerri in his most exposed state, pushing past the stigma around mental health conversations that his surroundings instilled in him growing up. kerri boldly shares captivating stories about personal and fictional tribulations, probing his psyche before finding happiness. 

kerri often toes the line between stripped-down ballads and grand, cinematic compositions and the heart-wrenching “Family Man” displays his mastery of leading one style into another. A standout on the project, “Family Man” is seemingly about an absent father trying to re-enter his children’s lives after abandoning them: “The heart grows colder / As the years go by / With a brand new lens / He tried to make things right / But they were long gone too fast.” It’s easy to write off the absent father until the bridge, where kerri writes from the dad’s perspective. Violins swell as he fuzzily sings: “A cynical fear of the kids I held / That they’d feel like me in my little Hell / Hoping they know I still wish ‘em well.”

Sometimes being concise is a sign of maturity and Finish What You Started sees kerri adopt a more bare-bones approach to his music. 

“I definitely believe in myself more as a writer (now). I used to be so focused on putting everything possible into a beat, but now I’m riding more of a back-to-the-basics mentality. I’m not a kid anymore, and I want the music I release to represent something true for my life in a more mature and balanced format.”

Finish What You Started is masterful at building tension. But as the album approaches its tail end, the penultimate track “getting older” finds a sense of build and relief in its production, while the lyrics craft the ultimate metaphor for kerri’s own path toward personal acceptance. The track struck a chord at Spotify, with key adds to tastemaker editorial playlists such as “POLLEN” and “anti pop.”

“I love that after going through all these emotions on the record,” kerri shares of “getting older”, “I get to actually have a moment of appreciating myself. With ‘getting older,’ I finally feel ready to love myself, love others, and let others love me.”

Finish What You Started is available at digital retailers here: https://kerri.ffm.to/finishwhatyoustarted

Finish What You Started Tracklist

Untitled

Too Long

I Just Saw A Ghost (feat. Skinny Atlas)

Ultraviolence

Family Man

Encore

Next Time I’ll Choose Love

Nosebleed

Things I Want (feat. Skinny Atlas)

WHY WOULD I GO ON?

alvin’s theme

1999 (feat. VITO)

Controlling Me

HURTING

Hands

Livin

Wolf

getting older

Finish What You Started