Crowded House, famous worldwide for catchy songs like "Weather With You" (1991) and "Don't Dream It's Over" (1986), has a new album out and it won't disappoint the band's many fans.
You can still hear those older songs on classic rock stations around the world, especially the latter, which hit charts in the US, among other countries.
Frontman, guitarist and songwriter Neil Finn still has happy memories of it, he told Rolling Stone magazine in 2021.
"I’m actually grateful that that song has done what it has. It seems special," he said. "I just think to have a song that has travelled so far is a wonderful thing. The other thing I’m really grateful for is that I actually like the song still."
Some people are in the unfortunate position of having a novelty song that they wrote become their most famous song, he says. "I feel a bit concerned for people in that sense. At least I feel proud of that song."
Ever since their debut album in 1986, people have been comparing Crowded House to the Beatles thanks to their musical range, which draws on folk, pop and rock elements plus their poetic lyrics and catchy melodies.
Aging and mortality in 'Gravity Stairs'
That association comes up again with their latest album, the band's eighth, "Gravity Stairs" coming out on May 31 - and its first song, "Magic Piano."
It's a melancholic song with a gentle melody, richly arranged and pairs harmonic complexity with the finest lyricism - "These are the dark forces now/Making shadows dance on the stairway/Who's that joker with the crooked smile?"
These were the elements that proved the band's worth on album "Woodface" (1991), hailed as a masterpiece, at least by critics.
Now, merely three years after their comeback album "Dreamers Are Waiting," Crowded House have released a work with 11 songs that contains several highlights (including "Some Greater Plan (for Claire)," "The Howl," and "Night Song").
Musically and thematically, it's a fairly serious album, starting with the title song, where "Gravity Stairs" is a metaphor for getting older and being aware of your own mortality and physicality, Finn said ahead of the release.
"Things are getting a little harder, and there's more determination needed to get to the top, but there's still the same compulsion to climb," he said.
The hymn-like song "Oh Hi" in the middle of the album - the first single - brings a slight plateau. The feather-light guitar song is inspired by Finn's commitment to a non-profit organization that focuses on building schools in remote parts of Kenya and Tanzania.
Finn's sons return
This album also sees Finn's sons getting involved again. Liam and Elroy worked on "Gravity Stairs," as they did on the last album, and are official members of the five man band alongside Nick Seymour and Mitchell Froom.
"I like to think the songs can be equally as good. Some people will find them not as immediately catchy or classic-sounding, but it’s worth remembering that when we handed our first record into Capitol, nobody was saying it was going to go straight onto the radio," Finn told Australian's Rolling Stone some time ago of the new album.
That may sounds almost slightly apologetic, but there is absolutely no reason for it. The album may not contain earworms as we know from the radio, but it is a record that Paul McCartney would certainly enjoy.
He has already publicly expressed his enthusiasm for brilliant Finn, saying "I love his songs" on more than one occasion.
