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Liam Finn
Liam Finn says that his new offering,
Champagne in Seashells, is a "document of a small moment in time." He's modestly referring to the busy two years since the release of his critically acclaimed debut album,
I'll Be Lightning, and the nearly uninterrupted schedule of touring that has taken him around the world. Over the past year, he's played sold-out shows on every continent, opened for the Black Keys and Eddie Vedder, and performed at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. It's no wonder that the 26-year-old singer-songwriter identifies himself as a "bearded nomad." Home is where he hangs his signature broad-brimmed black hat.
Champagne in Seashells is also the record of a fruitful collaboration. A few years ago, Liam's childhood friend Eliza-Jane Barnes visited him during the mastering sessions for
I'll Be Lightning. After hearing his songs just once, Liam says, at his next show "she sat on a couch side-stage with a microphone and a glass of whiskey, and sang along with every song. That was pretty much our first gig together." From there she moved onto the stage, and soon after, into the touring van.
Liam and E.J.'s live show soon developed into one of the most talked-about musical performances in recent history. Liam frenetically hopped from guitar to drums to theremin, using a loop pedal to layer vocal lines and what he calls "weird sounds" into mesmerizing sonic freak-outs; E.J. accompanied with autoharp, cowbell, honeyed harmony vocals and, not unimportantly, mischievous comic banter.
Champagne in Seashells was recorded at Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios with the same analog equipment used to record
I'll Be Lightning. But the disc's five songs are bigger and bolder, revealing new lyrical complexities and pointing in daring new musical directions. "Plane Crash," the lead track, is a fantastical story of travel anxiety that creeps along tensely before exploding into an oceanic squall of guitar noise and thunderous drums. "On Your Side" describes a case of romantic obsession, with E.J.'s heartbreaking lead vocals set to haunting funhouse acoustics.
"Long Way to Go" and "Honest Face" are off-kilter pop songs that walk a tightrope between structure and anarchy. "We actually recorded a lot of stuff that was just us jamming, like we do live," Liam explains. "It was a bit more wild and experimental. But the songs won over in the end." Liam and E.J. produced and engineered the disc; the mixes were completed by Tchad Blake, who has worked with Tom Waits and Gomez as well as Liam's former band Betchadupa. "He has the tricks that make everything sound right up in your face and huge and warm," Liam says.
Liam headed into the studio to record
Champagne in Seashells in April, shortly after he had joined Johnny Marr, KT Tunstall, and members of Wilco and Radiohead to take part in Neil Finn's
7 Worlds Collide project. "Red Wine Bottle," a Liam original, appears on
The Sun Came Out, the collaborative's double album, released in August.
While forming a bridge between Liam's past and future,
Champagne in Seashells bears witness to a thrilling partnership, with Liam and E.J. adventurously composing songs on the stage and in the studio. ("It's great when you've got a female opinion on stuff," Liam jokes. "I'm just writing for the ladies, really.") And it's the latest chapter in the biography of one of the most gifted singer-songwriters of his generation. Liam Finn's suite of new songs canvasses the same emotional terrain as
I'll Be Lightning, addressing melancholy and loss with candor and wit. On
Champagne in Seashells, airplanes take us far from home, a lover's packed suitcase waits by the door, and relationships are filled with fear and distrust. Meanwhile, Liam's inventive and passionate musical explorations tell a different story-that of a young artist discovering the measure of his powers.
