Liam Finn records new album in front of an online audience
On his latest album Hyperverse, the Crowded House member sought to capture the excitement of the in-the-moment live experience in a studio setting.
Liam Finn’s experimental fourth studio album, Hyperverse, was recorded entirely on livestream.
The genesis of the album was a live one-man show he played in Auckland in 2021, he told RNZ’s Music 101.
“I had such a good time, and I forgot how much that was part of my DNA, this improvisational aspect … you’ve got one shot because you've got an audience in front of you.
Liam Finn's latest Hyperverse was created in front of an online audience.
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“It gets such a different character and such a different intensity out of me that I was like, I need to find a way to bottle this in a studio and I've never been able to.”
It occurred to him that having an online audience might be the catalyst he needed, he says.
“That's what started this idea of streaming myself, from scratch basically doing every part of the process, whether it be jamming and mucking around, then it turns into trying to write melodies and lyrics and the things that had previously been the most intimate parts of your songwriting, when you're generally on your own or at best writing with somebody else or something, it's still quite a nerve wracking thing.
“I wanted to face up to that … it's not a fear, I wasn't afraid of it. But I guess it's vulnerability, face up to the vulnerability, and try and embrace it and see what effect that has on the music.”
People shared in the creative process from all over the world, he says.
“And it was quite funny, this community that formed around it of who knows who they were? I don't know how old they were, what gender they were … it was kind of marvellous in that way.
“I feel like I know them, but I know the cyber version of them. They’re thanked on the record; there's probably about 30 or 40 that were just there the whole way over the three or four years. That watched the whole thing, it was a really fascinating thing.”
The approach of creating in front of an audience, while unfamiliar to him, was invigorating, he says.
“Every artist I know is trying to always mix it up to make it feel fresh again.”
The “conceptual boundaries” he put around the project was also motivational, Finn says.
“It really forces you to work, even putting myself on stream for two or three hours, a couple of days a week, I couldn't sit there and check my phone, I had to work and it was really good for keeping up a pace.”
Leaning into the improvisational nature of the work on Hyperverse informed it with a creative tension, he says.
“In the day and age of AI and things that, this is real in-the -moment stuff.
“And I think we're all, whether we know it or not, searching for these in the moment experiences that can't be replicated.”
After 25 years of performing alongside his father Neil Finn and Crowded House, Liam and Neil released their first collaborative album Lightsleeper in 2018. Liam and his brother Elroy then officially joined Crowded House as core members and co-writers. Liam has been based in the US for the past 12 years.
