STACK #200 Jun 2021

MUSIC FEATURE

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THE DREAM HOUSE

Neil Finn leads Crowded House into a freshly fam-focused era with the band's truly magnificent seventh album, Dreamers AreWaiting . He spoke to Zoë Radas.

I f there‘s one unifying thing that comes across about the spirit of the Finn family, it's their particular brand of dry-as- powdered-bone humour. Back in 2018 when STACK met Neil and son Liam in a Sydney JB Hi-Fi as the two were releasing their joint album Lightsleeper , their gentle jabs at one another were so blankly-delivered we weren‘t sure where the absurdist fiction stopped and

the genuine sentiment began. Their camaraderie in mirth was on display when Crowded House livestreamed a media- invite play-through of their 11th studio album, Dreamers Are Waiting , several weeks ago from New Zealand. The band‘s new line- up was dotted around the room amongst 15 or so journalists – Neil and bassist Nick Seymour up the front, keys player Mitchell

Froom mid-left, and Liam and drummer Elroy Finn (Neil and wife Sharon‘s youngest son) tucked up the back. At one point during conversation, Liam addressed his father in a ponderous tone, “ We've been friends longer than you and Nick and Mitchell,” to which Neil responded, “I haven't performed some of the same services for them that I have for you, though.”

10 JUNE 2021

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