Gravity Stairs

Album review

Crowded House's eighth album feels like a nugget retrieved from a time capsule buried in the mid '60s—just as the British Invasion ushered in a shaggy new counterculture. The cover art even mimics the classic Klaus Voormann portraits of the Beatles' Revolver. There's a trippy garage-psych vibe to songs like "Blurry Grass" and "Black Water, White Circle," with the hypnotic latter boasting nervous percussion and choral harmonies. "I Can't Keep Up With You" is a hip-swiveling call to dance. Neil Finn & Co. also delve into the folky side of the era, with "Magic Piano"—twinkling keys, whispery backing vocals, laser light-show dreaminess—and the optimistically jangling, Simon and Garfunkel-esque "Teenage Summer" (featuring additional vocals by New Zealand singer Ladyhawke). Finn has said he named the album for a stone staircase he sees on vacation, calling it a "metaphor for getting a little older and becoming aware of your own mortality, your own physicality" as there is "more determination needed to get to the top, but there's still the same compulsion to climb." The compulsion is strong, and it runs in the family. His older brother Tim Finn, of the great New Zealand band Split Enz, co-wrote and lends vocals to "Some Greater Plan (For Clare)," a dreamy Everly Brothers-style ballad warmed with glistening bouzouki. Indeed, the album is a family affair, in both the true and musical sense, as the band now includes Neil's sons Elroy and Liam trading off on various instruments (their mother, Sharon, joins on backing vocals for a few tracks), as well as original bassist Nick Seymour. Also present is keyboardist/ producer Mitchell Froom, who has worked with Crowded House on and off since their excellent self-titled debut in 1986—the album that gave us and "Something So Strong" and "Don't Dream It's Over," one of the most perfect pop songs put to record of the decade. "The Howl" is a country rocker, "All That I Can Ever Own" feels Paisley Underground-esque, and "Oh Hi"—inspired by Neil's work with a nonprofit that builds schools in remote areas of Kenya and Tanzania—is bubblegum joyous. And "Night Song" is a jazzy twist, covered in a layer of fuzz that eventually lifts as the song turns soulful. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz