Before Coldplay, The Killers, Wilco (on occasion) or Justin Rutledge, there was Crowded House and arguably one of the best pop songwriters of the last almost-25 years at its heart in Neil Finn. Without largesse, artifice or literary pretensions, Finn has written a truly literary, exciting and engaging body of pop composition. It’s been fine work and it continues: see “Amsterdam” for proof of wordsmithing (“Hear the sound of cathedral bells/cash ringing at the gates of Hell”) and “Isolation” for how Finn and co. (Nick Seymour, bass/album art, Mark Hart, guitars and Matt Sherrod, drums) realize these intelligent ideas and beautiful melodies.
This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2010.