When Nick Kinsey moved into his farmhouse in New York’s Hudson Valley, he dreamed that he would stumble upon a trove of unreleased music from some eccentric artist who’d previously lived there. If anyone would be inclined to expect that kind of treasure, it would be the prolific Kinsey, who in addition to his own music has produced and played on Waxhatchee’s St. Cloud, toured with Kevin Morby, and drummed for AC Newman, Hand Habits, and Cold War Kids, among many others. And with all those various styles and ideas swirling around his head, that imaginary stash of songs appealed more and more. “I needed to create a fictional character to get into the headspace necessary to finish this group of songs,” Kinsey says. “I was able to escape my usual writing blocks and get away from any need to sound ‘cool’ by pretending I was this fictional weirdo and failed session musician.” And after rounding out his compositions with some key collaborators, the first volume of Connie Cunningham and the Creeps fulfilled Kinsey’s dream in the form of six brilliant, retro oddball pop planets circling one oddball songwriting star.