Home > Music > CD Review > Liam Finn, 'I'll Be Lightning'

Liam Finn, 'I'll Be Lightning'

Neil Finn's son tries to step out of dad's shadow with solo debut

By David Peisner, Special to Metromix

January 21, 2008

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Backstory: Liam Finn is the son of Crowded House frontman Neil Finn. His first solo album is a loose chronicle of the emotional upheavals he faced living in London while trying to get his own band, Betchadupa, to be known outside of his native New Zealand as anything other than “Neil Finn’s kid’s band.”

Why You Should Care: Relying mostly on warm, spry guitar melodies and multi-tracked harmonies, “I’ll Be Lightning” sounds quite a bit like the Beatles circa “Abbey Road” (which is also to say it sounds quite a bit like Crowded House circa “Woodface”). Heartsick ballads like “Fire in Your Belly” and the graceful, Elliott Smith–ish “Wide Awake on the Voyage Home” comfortably abut caustic rockers like “Lead Balloon” and the hard-charging “This Place Is Killing Me,” while woozy synths and refreshingly leftfield production touches keep things interesting throughout.

Verdict: Finn doesn’t exactly emerge from his pop's shadow here, but his sturdy, emotive tunes certainly do no shame to the family legacy.

X-Factor: At his live shows, Finn is frequently accompanied by fellow scion of Southern hemisphere rock royalty, Eliza-Jane Barnes, daughter of Jimmy Barnes. Though the name doesn’t mean much over here, Jimmy Barnes was the frontman for monster Australian rock act Cold Chisel. Between that group and his solo output, Barnes has more top 40 albums in Australia (26!) than any other Aussie in history.