Following the announce
of their first album together, Neil Finn and Liam
Finn have revealed a tribute to Greek mythology and a visual
accompaniment for their lead single Back
To Life. Shot in Los Angeles and directed by Kristofski,
the video follows the Lightsleeperand Finn family musical ethos of creating with friends and
family;
“We spent
three hours on a Sunday afternoon dressing up and posing with some of our
friends, mere mortals applying the greasepaint to escape our earthly chains,” explain
Neil and Liam.
“Behold, a little piece of theatre representing the way we try
to summon up the gods of our songs, like Orpheus - challenging them to bring
life to those loved ones who have departed. But alas, the gods seem listless
and unconcerned, trapped in their own cycles of drama and intrigue.”
Watch Back To Life here
Recorded mainly in Neil’s
Auckland studio,
Lightsleeperbursts with both 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 question 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 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
Anger Plays a Part,
Any Other Way, and
We Know What It Means.
This unmistakable spirit - of musicians at their peak, bound together by the
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
Lightsleepersuch a gorgeous progression in the Finn family musical history.
Photo credit: Sam
Kristofski
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