Local sister act Fionn wants you to come by your angst honestly

by Angela Vannatter on October 18th, 2023 at 5:23 AM

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From busking on the streets of Granville Island at age of 12 to eventually getting scouted by 604 Records, the pop punk pair of Fionn has grown up fast. Spanning multiple genres and already asserting themselves as a dynamic duo on the scene, the twin sisters are nothing short of impressive, having produced their third album I Might Start Smoking before their 26th birthday.

As one grows up, some change can be expected. You turn 13, you enter high school, high school ends, you go to college, and so the story goes. In pop culture, these milestones are well documented, carving the path that lies ahead. Just think of your favorite coming-of-age teen movies (for me, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Edge of Seventeen, Booksmart, and High School Musical come to mind). But what’s often left out of the equation is the next chapter: your mid-twenties.

What’s more—writing this as a 25-year-old myself—you’re constantly hearing from your older and wiser peers that your mid-twenties should be the time of your life. Unprovoked, you’re often reminded that you’ll never be as hot or energetic as you are now. So what’s there to complain about, right?

Fionn begs to differ, describing I Might Start Smoking as the band’s second coming-of-age.

“You’re witnessing everything change for the first time in your adulthood,” shares Alanna. “Everything’s changing, but you’re in the same place.”

Remember your first breakup, your first friend fallout, the first time shit really hit the fan? Your young adult firsts are formative for who you’ll become—but damn, do they hurt.

The first thing I noticed when listening to I Might Start Smoking was the full-fledged female rage in all its glory. I mean, take the album title, for example. It’s a big “fuck you” to the parents who made you think that smoking was the biggest threat to your wellbeing as a young adult. Surprise! There’s a lot more in store (although Fionn wants to be clear that they do not condone smoking).

It’s true that when there’s smoke, there’s fire, and in this case, it’s your childhood innocence going up in flames. On track “2014”, describing the onset of one’s first identity crisis (when you first become sick of yourself), Fionn sings: “I don’t know where I went but I’m so low/Buried alive by my ego/I scroll too much on my phone/Feeling too young but too old.” On “Leo”, the duo goes on to poke fun at the practical parts of adulting: “I think I should invest in a cordless vacuum cleaner/so I don’t feel tangled up when I try to feel better.”

Frankly, Fionn is pissed about the twentysomething cards that we’ve all been dealt. Admiring the unhinged feel of this record, I ask how Fionn came to these feelings of chaos so honestly.

“If you’re in the music industry, everybody is chaotic,” says Breanne. “But a lot of people are afraid, as they’re trying to live up to an expectation that society has of them. They’re closed off and don’t allow themselves to truly feel unless they’re screaming into a pillow.”

What happens when we try to cover up the chaos, internalizing it while our peers glorify our mid-twenties all around us? That would be self-destruction—a central concept on this record.

While allowing yourself to just get angry can be therapy in itself, Fionn takes us full circle in the process of grief for our simpler lives. I ask Alanna and Breanne how they make sense of the chaos. As Fionn threatens to smoke, it’s not cigarettes that become their outlet, but songwriting.

“When you write a song, you’re not always thinking about how other people are going to perceive it,” says Breanne. “Nowadays, we don’t write with a motive. The raw emotion and honesty is what people latch onto. It’s just your own voice. Nobody can recreate exactly how you are feeling.”

Following stints at SXSW in Austin, NXNW in Toronto, and Rifflandia in Victoria, Fiobnn is setting out on a tour of their own. I ask what attendees can expect from a Fionn show, and in true coming-of-age form, Alanna and Breanne promise slumber-party vibes—but without the bullying.

Concluding I Might Start Smoking, Fionn leaves us with a helpful tip: come by your angst honestly, and out loud. Silencing it might be more harmful than cigarettes.