Music

Neil Finn Talks ‘Master’ Kevin Parker, Touring Post-COVID and new Crowded House Album ‘Dreamers Are Waiting’

This Friday (June 4), Crowded House drop the new album Dreamers Are Waiting, their first since 2010’s Intriguer, which led Australia’s albums chart following its release. None of Dreamers’ songs were crafted in this unorthodox manner.

Writing the stuff that travels the world, and mends hearts, well that’s a different matter.

If songs “magically appeared in my writing room here on paper planes, I’d be delighted,” Finn says with a laugh. “It should be easier than it is after all these years, because there should be some kind of manual or some process.” But there isn’t.

Many fans think Finn wrote the manual. The New Zealander has built a peerless catalog with Crowded House, whose sound weaves elements of folk with rock and a hit of roots. Since its formation in 1985 from the embers of Split Enz, the band has sold more than 10 million albums, and in 2016 were rewarded with induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame (the Enz were inducted in 2005).

Crowded House fans extend well beyond the antipodes. Career retrospective Recurring Dream – The Very Best Of, which gathered the classics “Something So Strong,” “Weather With You,” “Mean To Me,” “World Where You Live,” “Fall at Your Feet” and more, logged two weeks at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart in 1996. The compilation also carried the group’s biggest hit “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1987. It’s since been covered by artists from all walks, from Faith No More to Susan Boyle.