Image by Gep Repasky //

An actor and musician? Stranger things have happened…

Finn Wolfhard just pulled the solo card. The Stranger Things star and former frontman of Calpurnia and The Aubreys is stepping out on his own with Happy Birthday, his debut solo album dropping June 6th via AWAL. To mark the occasion, he’s shared the first taste, today’s release, ‘Choose the latter’.

Built on sunny guitars and steady drums, ‘Choose the latter’ delivers the kind of indie sheen that wouldn’t be out of place on a coming-of-age movie soundtrack. The accompanying video? A full-blown DIY spectacle, with Wolfhard belting it out on a hilariously bad green-screen roller coaster ride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4P4GTNIr84

The album itself comes from an ambitious personal challenge—writing 50 songs before the end of 2022. “I ended up writing a lot of terrible stuff,” he admits. “But a few of those songs I was really proud of went to The Aubreys. I started realizing a general theme in a lot of the other songs involving my identity, anxieties, nostalgia, childhood and loneliness. All of that was a part of a bigger puzzle.”

Music’s been a lifeline for Wolfhard since he was a kid, whether it was spinning his parents’ Beatles records or trying to channel The Replacements and Guided By Voices. “Music for me has always been something that I can control,” he says. “And while I’m really grateful for acting and for a long time, it really provided me that peace, it’s just a different thing now that I’m an adult and that it’s a career. I still enjoy it a lot, but when I am by myself and get to play guitar and write a song, it’s a different kind of feeling I’m after.”

To celebrate Happy Birthday, he’s hitting the road for a North American tour. Dubbed the Objection! Tour her will be headed out all over the states – so far, no word of Aus shows,  but stay tuned!