Try Whistling This

"Well what did you expect really? 'Hope you like my new direction', as NZ's most bankable music export leads us into his concept three album jazz funk odyssey? A trip-hop-opera? A cosy companion to the last Crowded House album? None of the above really.

Despite Finn's excitement about nu-school mainstream beat science and Polynesian rhythms in interviews only a fool would expect anything but a tightly packaged batch of great songs blessed with the joy of a fully liberated artist this time around.

Maybe Neil's broadened horizons will take center-stage at a later date but right now there's 13 doses of vintage Finn medicine tempered with a dash of the nouveau that feel like they just had to come out and be heard. From the opener 'Last One Standing' with it's trademark bounding pop sensibilities right through to the albums closer the spooky 'Addicted' there is a strong sense that this a filler free affair built on the solid foundations of proper craftmanship and melody.

The bigwigs at the record company offices could probably make a success out of any of these songs in isolation but it's inevitable that they will strike out with the most glaringly obvious like first single 'She Will Have Her Way' or the moody 'Sinner'.

Album purchasers then, for once, get the best of the deal because every single morsel of song on 'Try Whistling This' is as good it gets - perfect!"
- PHILLIPE BUBONNE