Neil and Liam Finn have released their first album together, Lightsleeper. Photo: Russ Flatt
Because dad Neil and son Liam have been popping up on stages and recordings together for years, you tend to take their collaboration for granted. But Lightsleeper marks the first time the two songwriters have made a full album together. This feels more surprising than it should.
What's not at
all surprising is how musically rewarding a listen it is; the tension between Neil's pop supremacy and the nous of Liam's lo-fi experimentalist tendencies finding a comfy common ground that's a lot more out there and experimental than you might imagine.
With musicians of this pedigree you're not going to find a dud track. Each song is filled with little sonic details that are gradually revealed and melodies that take sudden turns to catch you off guard, but never sound anything less than completely natural and effortless.
For my money the 7-minute long opus Where's My Room is the best example of their respective strengths coming together. Kicking off as a languid, loose funk jam, the guitars eventually slip away as the song takes a Beatles-esque turn into classic Neil pop territory, before baroque disco strings hit and the whole thing breaks down into a wildly hallucinogenic, clattering freakout. It's brilliant.
But, really, the same can be said of nearly each of Lightsleeper's 11 tracks. We Know What It Means is a gorgeously relaxed track propelled by Mick Fleetwood's backbeat, while the floating psychedelia of Meet Me in the Air is waiting to take you away.
