Contemporary Pop Rockers Crowded House latest release “Intriguer” (Concorde Music Group, 2010) picks up where their 2007 release of “Time On Earth” left off with a similar approach featuring introspective lyrics and fine-tuned songs.
Neil Finn is one of those musicians who always seems to be working with others and opening up the doors to allow the music to keep flowing in his Roundhead studios in his hometown of Auckland, New Zealand. Over the years, Finn has been known to collaborate with an long list of list of notable musicians, surrounding himself with many of the artists he enjoys and gels with with the likes of members from Wilco, Radiohead, Eddie Vedder and Johnny Marr from the Smiths fame. The choice of adding Mike Hart on backup keys, vocals and guitar and Matt Sherrod on drums has given the group a solid foundation to create the quality of sound that Finn has been crafting in recent years as a solo artist.
Always the lyricist and creative instigator, Finn matches the mood of his songs with his talented bandmates by creating rich and layered songs through his songwriting and melody making. The band’s musicianship elegantly shines with the skills of producer Jim Scott who has worked with the likes of Radiohead, Wilco and the Red Hot Chili Peppers by adding depth and clarity to the backing vocals and sound effects that will pique the interest of new listeners and audiophiles alike.
Additional material on the Deluxe copy of the album includes a DVD of videos recorded in Finn’s home and some show material at Auckland Town Hall in Finn’s homeland of New Zealand. Fans of the Crowded House will be happy to see a live version of one of the oldie but goodies, “Don’t Dream (It’s Over)” and Neil donning a debonair new stash.
Finn gets everyone around him involved, adding the usual suspects of special guests to the mix including his son Liam and his wife Sharon, who add guitar and background vocals respectively on “Isolation,” a song with warm and echoing voices surrounded by fluttering organ keys which ends by bursting into a high pitched chaos.
“Amsterdam” saunters through the streets, taking the listener on a slow and plodding jaunt with Sherrod's slack beat and leaving the listener with a bad taste in their mouth and a sense of paranoia with lyrics: “And the rain came hard / A million people on a protest march / Every choice, every path was mistaken.”
The slow pace of the song puts a damper on the mood, setting the stage in a torrential downpour of emotion, shaking things up with a certain sense of uncertainty with fluttering organ keys by Hart. Finn paints the setting as a place where no one can be trusted, even the storyteller on the song; “Every temptation, and device / All the diamonds and the spice / I would give anything for the sight of an honest man.”
The revelatory song “Twice If You’re Lucky” starts off with beautiful keyboard melodies and showcases Hart and Finn's harmonies. Songs such as “Archer’s Arrow” may even be relying on past success, with fluttering keys may even resemble the ivorys that make up the song “Private Universe,” a song from the group's fourth studio album “Together Alone.”
Although “Intriguer” flows with beautiful music and lyrics, the moodiness of the songs can seem unrelenting. Crowded House may not get much radio play, but the band's craftsmanship may be what is the most intriguing part of this latest release.
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