The Finches

The Finches is a rock band formed in Tehran, Iran in the summer of 2015. In the winter of the same year the first drummer and the vocalist were replaced, and in 2016 the band released their first single, Ocean, followed by a series of live shows in underground venues.

© The Finches They then started recording their debut EP in 2018, and released their first music video Run Run Run in 2019. After the release of their first EP album, Psychodelan, the drummer left and the band started experimenting with electronic melodies and beats. The current members of The Finches, Asal Maleki and Zhina Ardalan aka Xeen, are working on their new album in a different genre, which is scheduled for release in early 2021.

The Finches: "From the very beginning, our band came together to play music and to cover songs, in order to be heard and only to be heard! We didn’t want to make any bold statements about our backgrounds or about what it meant to be a girl in a society where women were not allowed to sing or play instruments in public. We knew exactly what route we were taking and we loved it. With this decision came many responsibilities; wanting to be loud enough to be heard, but not too loud to attract attention. Wanting to be present in the music scene, but not wanting to be referred to as the Iranian “female” underground rock band. 

But there were no easy ways to escape these consequences; the police would interrupt our live performances and the intelligence agency would give us warnings about our activities, and many other things. This caused many changes to the structure of the band; our previously five-member band became a duo as three members left due to the circumstances and differences of opinion about the future of the band and its goals. Also, the genre and the mood of our music changed from what was performed on the first EP Psychodelan – which was mostly about what we experienced as teenagers and young adults – to the style of our second unreleased EP Shame, which became really personal and basically more serious.

Our track Kharchang, from the Psychodelan EP, is a somewhat funky song about working in the Iranian music scene and facing different everyday challenges. Kharchang is the Persian word for “crab”, and the crab here refers to the various ups and downs in the life of The Finches."

Kharchang, خرچنگ

Animated Portrait

© Goethe-Institut