Morgan Finlay

Morgan Finlay is a singer-songwriter from Vancouver whose songs are characterised by a feather-light luminosity and invariably put his listeners in an optimistic mood. Stylistically, he moves through a wide spectrum from indie rock to pop, folk and acoustic singer-songwriter with grunge influences. Musical connections to Jeff Buckley, Damien Rice, Bruce Cockburn or Bryan Adams are obvious, although Finlay stands out for his very own style and the unmistakable influence of his Irish roots. In the past 18 years, he has performed his songs on over 1000 stages in 13 different countries.

The globetrotter began his career in Toronto, where he celebrated his breakthrough on the independent scene with the EP "Uppercut". With the EP’s lead-off single "zensong”, he was noticed internationally for the first time; not long after, this led to an acoustic tour through Germany and Austria, which was a huge success. With each subsequent tour, Finlay’s fan base in Europe grew, and he continued to maintain a lasting connection with them. Since 2011, he has financed five of his albums, Latitude (2011), Fault Lines (2013), New Harbour (2015), Little Calm (2018), and Shots of Light (2021) solely through crowdfunding campaigns.

Being independent from a record label has allowed Finlay to involve his fans directly in the creative process. All albums and tours are a collaborative project; he enthusiastically lets fans vote for the songs on the track lists of his albums, performs living room shows, and writes commissioned songs. Community is an essential social commitment for the Irish-Canadian, who since 2016 has developed a bond with the "Lebenshilfe e.V." and for whom he wrote a song. “Das Herz in mir” is an integral part of a tour that takes Morgan Finlay through the Lebenshilfe workshops of Germany every year in June.

In 2020, when COVID 19 put his plan to record an album in New York on hold, Finlay dug deep and found inspiration for music in his circumstance in Hamburg. Themes of isolation and navigating an unknown future coalesced into songs that he shared with his audience during the now-beloved "Homebound Concert Series" livestream. When Finlay subsequently launched a crowdfunding campaign for his new album on Startnext in July of 2020, his fans stepped up to make the campaign a roaring success. Released on July 30, 2021, "Shots of Light" comes with a series of four videos that bring special songs to life via powerful images and artistic animations.