Finn brothers reunite
Neil Finn is livestreaming a series of special recording sessions - and tomorrow’s will be even more special, reports Grant Smithies.
Neil Finn is fizzing at the bung. He sounds ampedup, energised, creatively rejuvenated. A long-term fan of internet livestreaming, Finn has set himself a huge creative and logistical challenge, and he’s loving it.
Every Friday evening throughout August, he’s beaming out live audio-visual webcast performances from his Roundhead studio in Auckland, culminating at the end of the month in the very public recording of a new live-inthe-studio album.
‘‘It’s a great way to turn an album recording into an event,’’ he tells me via a cellphone that surges and fades with each new corner, as he travels back from visiting his dad in Te Awamutu with his son Elroy at the wheel.
‘‘It’s exciting for me and hopefully also for people who tune in. I think the internet has a lot more possibilities than people have fully explored, and webcasting could be used a lot more in this kind of way.’’
Last Friday, there was a streamed studio session in which Finn fronted a choir of fellow NZ pop heavyweights including SJD, Don McGlashan, Phoenix Foundation’s Sam Scott, Lawrence Arabia, Tiny Ruins and Fazerdaze.
The band played, the singers’ voices locked together, their harmonies swooping up among the rafters, and it streamed out live, warts and all, via Finn’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
Between songs, fans from around the globe asked questions about the music.
And as soon as the live stream was done, the best of the night’s recordings was dispatched to LA to be mastered then released 12 hours later as a new single, More Than One Of You.
‘‘It’s a tremendous way to make a record. I love everything about it. It’s a new approach for me, yet in some ways it also hearkens back to the old days when you had to have everything carefully prepared before you went into the studio.’’
Back then, there was limited time and budget so you needed to be able to record your work pretty much live, he says.
‘‘Rather than piece songs together slowly over many weeks or months, you had to make sure the song was finished, the arrangements were sorted, the lyrics were all ready to go, the band knew what they were doing. In some ways, this new project’s not so different to that, but transplanted into modern times where you’re doing it all in full view of anyone that wants to watch online. It adds a layer of excitement and performance that wouldn’t be there otherwise.’’
Finn will be fronting a more stripped-down choir for another live stream tonight, the sound this time rendered majestic by the addition of a 20-piece orchestra.
The studio audience? Just one person: me, flying up to cop an earful and report back.
The online audience? Thousands of eager pop fans throughout New Zealand and all over the world, with even more hearing it once the ‘‘best take’’ is issued as the second single.
‘‘When we did the first one last week, there was a certain giddiness in the atmosphere that really added something to the music, and I think that will continue every Friday. This week’s session is going to be a lot more elaborate, with the strings and a secret special guest, and the way we film it will also be completely different.’’
Hang on – a secret special guest? Who? Surely even more people will tune in if you spill the beans.
‘‘I’m not telling. But it’s not Paul McCartney.’’ Unable to keep a secret, he buckles a short while later and sends through an email with the name. The secret guest is his bro – Tim Finn.
Brilliant. It’s all about whanau, right? Two brothers who sang together as kids in Te Awamutu, then shared stages in Split Enz and Crowded House, now reunited to play live in the studio, their onetake harmonies beamed straight out to anyone with the good sense to tune in.
It’s the kind of online experiment musicians should do more of, reckons Finn. It allows songwriters to form a more direct relationship with their listeners, and it lets the audience hear songs being put together in real time, the arrangements evolving before their grateful ears.
‘‘The whole project has a real sense of occasion about it, and each session will be distinctive in its own way. Last week’s was pretty loose and free-flowing, but tomorrow night with the orchestra I have a much more specific idea of what I’m trying to do.
‘‘It’s a very potent ensemble, a very big band with a lot of power and texture to it. I think you’ll have a grand time when you come up for it. Then next Friday night, we’re doing a full live performance on the studio floor with a live audience and band. And the following Friday will be the final live recording for the album.’’
That final webcast may be something of an epic, he reckons. ‘‘The session on August 25 will go as long as it needs to go; it could be three hours, maybe longer. It will be a serious attempt to get all 11 songs recorded really well in one go.
‘‘After that, we’ll spend three days mixing then release the finished album a week later, on September 1.’’
And what will this new live-inthe-studio album be called? That’s not a secret, too, is it? Actually, no. Neil came up with an apt title right at the start.
As befits a project that began with musicians convening each week in a quiet studio, ready to conjure some magic from thin air and beam it out to a hushed crowd of expectant listeners, it will be called Out Of Silence. ❚ Each Friday’s live stream will be accessible worldwide via the Neil Finn Facebook page. Tune in at 7pm.