Crowded House – Gravity Stairs Review

There is a clear poignancy to Gravity Stairs which takes hold well before listening to this Crowded House latest. Neil Finn has likened the experience of writing and recording this to a compulsion to climb. An awareness of mortality ever-present in the cold slabs of cement he feels necessary to ascend. Climb for the sake of it. A tearjerking reason and the warmth on this latest album from the band should be no surprise. The band is as determined as ever yet they are on the other side of the hill, coming down from their heady days. You could almost chart the moment they topped the climb. Glastonbury 2022 on the Pyramid Stage was filled with such overwhelming joy it was hard to think where the band would go from there.  

Trust is put in the next generation as Neil and Liam Finn share writing credits throughout Gravity Stairs. Acoustic consistency and beauty which guided the band for so long is still found within. But there is a darker shape taking hold. A sense of time slipping away can be heard in the opener Magic Piano. Their pop proclivities are still kicking and the overwhelming instrumentals within engage a gifted maturity. Idealistic interpretations of the days which lie ahead can be sound on Life’s Imitation. Finn still has a youthful spring in his lyrical step and for much of Gravity Stairs, it means not looking back but hoping for the same joys of youth to fall into his lap. Heartbreak whirs on through but the generosity and genuine tone taken by Finn is wonderful. His vocal range is still exceptional.  

The instrumental candour which takes hold of The Howl has the band at their firmest and most in-sync best. Turns of phrase in The Howl dominate Finn’s writing. Seeing the forest for the trees lingers as one of the many, varied expressions of vague fear on Gravity Stairs. Those tones of dealing with mortality are headstrong and bold. In those twilight years, Finn makes grand realisations. He comes to terms with regrets and revolutions found in his work. Gravity Stairs feels like a collision of his relevant worries and the desire to make peace with them while he has a chance. Fear almost engulfs the album, but the haunts of Some Greater Plan (for Claire) are written with such an open love. It rejects the tensions of being on the slope away from the peak. An embrace like this has never sounded more welcoming.  

Effectively the best Crowded House record since their self-titled debut. Gravity Stairs will last longer than their finest songs for it sounds complete. There is a core of truth and beauty within this record lacking in so many works, in their discography and their contemporaries. A flutter of the same energies David Byrne brings to his work is now placed in the creative and reliable hands of Finn. This is Crowded House at their best. Pieces like Blurry Grass are Thirsty are Crowded House at their best. A maturing and blooming experience of real quality. Tasteful experiences pair with the highs and inevitable lows of growing old. Finn and company are a ways off from putting their feet up yet but clock the decades of experience behind them, putting it to good use on Gravity Stairs.