Neil & Liam Finn share music video for 'Back To Life'
/Following the announce of their first album together, Neil Finn and Liam Finn have revealed a tribute to Greek mythology and a visual accompaniment for their lead single ‘Back To Life’. Shot in Los Angeles and directed by Kristofski, the video follows the Lightsleeper and Finn family musical ethos of creating with friends and family;
“We spent three hours on a Sunday afternoon dressing up and posing with some of our friends, mere mortals applying the greasepaint to escape our earthly chains,” explain Neil and Liam.
“Behold, a little piece of theatre representing the way we try to summon up the gods of our songs, like Orpheus - challenging them to bring life to those loved ones who have departed. But alas, the gods seem listless and unconcerned, trapped in their own cycles of drama and intrigue.”
Recorded mainly in Neil’s Auckland studio, Lightsleeper bursts with both melody, and the trademark, euphoric flips that the Finn family are known for. When Liam’s lo-fi atmospherics meet Neil’s iconic pop sensibility, it’s met with a feeling of intimacy and awe that makes it easy to question why the dynamic father and son duo haven’t written together earlier.
The simple Finn family ethos of making music with friends and family continues right through the personnel recruited for the album: the touring band - Sharon Finn - Neil’s wife, and Liam’s mother - plays bass on two of the songs, Elroy Finn - Liam’s brother - drums on seven; and good friend Connan Mockasin returns for four. Greek friends Elias Dendias and Spiros Anemogianis bring plaintive bouzouki and accordian to ‘Back To Life’, and legendary Mick Fleetwood turns up to play ‘Anger Plays a Part’, ‘Any Other Way’, and ‘We Know What It Means.’
This unmistakable spirit - of musicians at their peak, bound together by the still-hot desire to make music that isn’t simply that year’s work, but something brewed up with bones, love, quiet revelation and the perfectly-evoked euphoria of being alive - is what makes Lightsleeper such a gorgeous progression in the Finn family musical history.
Neil & Liam Finn
Lightsleeper
1. Island of Peace
2. Meet Me In The Air
3. Where's My Room
4. Anger Plays A Part
5. Listen
6. Any Other Way
7. Back To Life
8. Hiding Place
9. Ghosts
10. We Know What It Means
11. Hold Her Close
Lightsleeper by Neil & Liam Finn is out Friday, August 24