Kritik in Q, Juni 1998 Moving House: He thinks he's alone now... When the news first leaked that after unilaterally dissolving Crowded House, Neil Finn's initial designs of the sound to carry him through the inevitable solo career involved programmed beats and loops, the prospect of the wonderfully white-bread, 40-year-old songsmith "going trip hop" was understandably alarming. In the end, only Sinner - the sixth of the 13 songs offered on this solo debut - appears indelibly informed by Massive Attack and the rest. Even then, remarkably, Finn wears it well. In fact, the singer/songwriter appears to have struck gold in his attempt to remould his indisputed talent for classic melody with more exotic aural scapes than his previous unit ever dared create. Importantly, the drily, but poorly-named, Try Whistling This is closer in sonic spirit to 1995's Finn, his collaboration with older brother Tim, than any of the Crowded House albums. Significantly, both are helmed by groundbreaking American producer Tchad Blake. The sound palette here incorporates treated drums, controlled guitar feedback, tremolo synthesizer and eerie mellotron, none of them ill-fitting. When the solo Lennon-echoing Dream Date breaks into a Badalamenti-like loungy vibes break midway through, it's hypnotically effective when it could have so easily sounded agonisingly forced. Despite these new-fangled whistles and bells, with Finn it has always been the songs that have really mattered. The emphasis here being on darker emotions, the denser tracks (Loose Tongue, Faster Than Light) only reveal themselves after the dozenth play. Even so, typically, others - the whimsically Sundays-ish Souvenir, the summery pop of She Will Have Her Way, the pub-piano-driven Addicted - are easily absorbed. Lyrically and melodically, the peak comes with the brooding title track where spiritual rumination ("Ever wondered if you're here at all?") collides with mystical, romantic passion ("If the gods desert us now, I'll turn this chapel into flames") in possibly Finn's most affecting song since Catherine Wheels on Together Alone. A triumph then, even if parts of it will likely scramble the brains of the Weather With You scarf-wavers. Which is no doubt the intention. **** (Four stars = Excellent. Definitely worth investigation) What have you been up to? I've built a studio in the basement of my home in Auckland, New Zealand, which I finished three months ago. I've just been writing in that room. Instead of doing demos and then recordings, its a more direct way of working. The good thing about being solo is you can explore uncharted waters and do what you want. The dilemma is because you have fewer restrictions you end up with too many options. When you're in a band, the fact that you have a certain sound can be a useful discipline. In otherwords, at the moment I have no idea which of the directions I've been moving in is going to be the final one for the album. Why are you in London at the moment? I've just performed an acoustic version of a new song Try Whistling This for my record company, Parlophone. I'm also looking at studios because I want to record my solo album here. I moved back to New Zealand a few years ago because I wanted to have a bit of a distance from things. Now I've been a hermit long enough. I was starting to go a bit stir crazy. The reason why you see so many New Zealand backpackers around is that people have to get out of there. I love the land, light and people very dearly but the pool of talented and inspired people there is very small and eventually you have to go elsewhere to find fresh inspiration. I'd got to the point where I'd been monkish long enough. How is the new album progressing? I hope to finish the music by the end of the year and I'll be disappointed if the album isn't ready for release next summer. How is it different to Crowded House? I've become intersted in exploring the world of computers and sampling. That started with Youth when we got him in to produce the Together Alone album. However, as a band we were only able to go a certain distance. I have more freedom now, although it will still be very song based. Technology is a tool like any other. It offers bright, clever ways of making music. I love the more traditional format but there's more to life than guitar, bass and drums. Computers and electronics enable you to think about song structures in different ways but this isn't a trip hop album. I want to head that suggestion off at the pass straight away. I like Massive Attack but the music is still a bit too cool for me in its atmosphere. I want a warmer soundtrack for my songs. I think if you continue to make the same music, your fans eventually get tired of you and I like having an audience.