I have a confession to make: I love Neil Finn. I’m not sure the feeling is reciprocated, but I believe Finn to be one of the best songwriters of his generation. His vastly underrated solo albums, plus the work with his brother Tim on 1995′s Finn, are often overlooked. His main outlet before and since their reformation, Crowded House, is often maligned. The band seem to have an image of being dour, boring and unexciting. In my opinion, nothing can be further from the truth. Quite often, their slightly off-kilter hooks, riffs and rhythms ensure they come up with something quite the opposite.
The band returned in 2007 with a new drummer after Paul Hester’s death in 2005, and disappointed with the subsequent release, the rather one-paced Time On Earth. However, things are back on track with Intriguer which, unlike their previous effort, is a proper band record – crafted during sessions together, rather than Finn adapting work he’d written as a solo album.
The album kicks off with the jaunty hooks of lead single ‘Saturday Sun’. A perfect example of Finn and Crowded House at their finest – the slightly menacing rhythm and intro breaks free like the “clouds blown away” of the chorus, revealing the delicate guitar riff at its centre and Finn’s perfect vocal delivery. ‘Archers Arrows’ is a sparse, revolving ballad that barely holds together around the delicate keyboards that twinkle lightly. It feels as though the rest of the band have to rush in to stop it from falling down. The piano refrain ticks all the “grand” pop boxes and see-saws between this and its delicate underpinnings. ‘Amsterdam’ continues with another ballad, letting the pace drop slightly and feels, ultimately a little bit “by the numbers”. Which might be the point, as it seems to be lamenting the chores of touring and viewing foreign cities as an outsider. Don’t worry though, the Spring-lamb jostling of ‘Either Side of The World’ comes to the rescue. Its optimistic and joyous refrain sings the virtues of time, space and love. A love song for travelling couples that only seem to meet occasionally and with limited time.
The duet of ‘Isolation’ is the heart-wrenching centrepiece of unrequited love. Starting as a pleading to “Open your heart” the song shatters into a mesh of noise that sound like a slide into desperation. The descent is complete when Finn yells “I wait for you to make a sign”, perhaps the final sign as the song jackknifes to its end. ‘Inside Out’ brings Finn’s Beatles-esque influences to the fore, as the rambling riffs bounce around the harmonies. The song is the perfect soundtrack to road trips through the sun-drenched countryside.
The album finishes with ‘Elephants’, another emotional journey which feels like a song to Paul Hester. At its heart it seems to be a bid to notice things around you and not miss the signs of friends in trouble. The beautiful piano refrain perfectly accompanies the closing words “Sweet dreams, make waves, find bliss”. Only those with a heart of stone couldn’t fail to be moved.
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Try Whistling This is one of my favourite albums, he is an incredible songwriter.
this album is a grower (as all CH stuff). Dont agree on Time on Earth though, its not perfect and the sequencing could be better but it has killer songs. Highly recommended. Together Alone is an album everybody should own. In my personal all time top 3.
Absoluetely, is a grower. When I first listened to Archer's Arrows, I didn ot really like it, but giving it a second try, it got me. This is my favorite band and with this record, I am just getting into it.
This record took me about seven listenings to finally realize just how incredible it is. I had similar doubts about one nil that were unfounded after I gave it a chance to sink in. Amsterdam may be the best song ever.
I have always enjoyed albums involving one or both of the Finn brothers, but the last two Crowded House albums have not inspired me in any way. Yes; they are both done very well, near perfection in fact, but not one song on either has made me feel good about it or want to sing along like the songs on their earlier albums do. Where are the great pop hooks I had become accustomed too, which served to lift one out of the seriousness of the rest of the lyrics for a bit to catch a breath and smile?
you’ve convinced me to give this album some more time — “isolation” totally blew my mind, but the rest of the album was hitting me like their old stuff does (i only heard them for the first time a couple weeks ago, and promptly loaded up on their works, so this isn’t sentimentality!)–but i really don’t want to have a heart of stone! so, a few more spins! but i must admit, finn sounds so fresh and energized for this point in his career, which i honestly find exciting, knowing it’s not over.
Neil Finn is the best pop/rock songwriter since the afore-mentioned L&M. Damn good guitarist, too. CH is great in concert, too — I’ve seen ‘em three times since 07.