is
set for release on August 24 on Inertia and [PIAS]. The
news arrives alongside lead single
, where powerful melodies join vulnerable lyrics,
evoking the magic that happens when people gather to sing and remember absent
friends - love's triumphant ability to transcend our physical world.
As it's a family affair, it's entirely fitting
that the story of
Lightsleeper begins
at a wedding and here the album opens with a gift from father to son on his
wedding day, "
Together,
Together", the chorus of
Island of Peace begins.
Recorded mainly in Neil's Auckland studio,
Lightsleeper bursts with
melody and the trademark, euphoric flips that the Finn family are known
for. When Liam's lo-fi atmospherics meet Neil's iconic pop sensibility,
it's met with a feeling of intimacy and awe that makes it easy to wonder why
the dynamic father and son duo haven't written together, earlier.
The simple Finn family ethos of making music with friends and family continues
right through to the personnel recruited for the album; the touring band, Sharon Finn -
Neil's wife, and Liam's mother - plays bass on two of the songs, Elroy Finn -
Liam's brother - drums on seven; and good friend
Connan Mockasin returns
for four. Greek friends Elias
Dendias and Spiros
Anemogianis bring plaintive bouzouki and accordian to
Back To Life, and legendary Mick
Fleetwood turns up to play on
Anger Plays A Part,
Any Other Way and
We Know What It
Means.
The unmistakeable spirit - of musicians at their peak, bound
together by a still-hot desire to make music that isn't simply that year's
work, but something brewed up with bones, love, quiet revelation and the
perfectly-evoked euphoria of being alive - is what makes
Lightsleeper such a
gorgeous progression in the Finn family musical history.
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