Neil Finn is a great and enduring personal favorite, from far-off days of Split Enz, through Crowded House and work with his brother Tim, through this latest solo effort.
Travel Music 2: Drunk in a crowded house, 1987.
Of special reverence to me is 7 Worlds Collide, circa 2002 (and a second group effort eight years later). In a great many ways, Finn has contributed heavily to the soundtrack of my life, and gratifyingly -- given that the best is always yet to come -- he is by no means standing still. File Dizzy Heights under "rewards repeated listenings."
Underneath the aural lava lamp, Finn is taking compositional risks, too: the title track is underpinned with smooth soul, "Divebomber" unfurls into an ominous march, and "White Lies and Alibis" has a tension within its structure in addition to its skittering, skeletal production. Finn still turns out strong pop songs as expected -- "Flying in the Face of Love," "Pony Ride," and "Recluse" -- but the Fridmann production keeps them lively and surprising, which is the key to Dizzy Heights: it is a seamless blend of Finn's longstanding popcraft and latter-day adventure, and it satisfies on both counts -- more at Allmusic.
