Stranger than Fiction, Larger Than Life: the Finn Brothers song-by-song discussion thread

I'll be one of the folks who actually rather likes FOMO on the whole, though for some reason I tended to always skip the first couple songs and start listening with "Roll of the Eye," which is a waste, because I really like this track. The sense of helplessness in the face of the state of the relationship is really well captured and hits home, but it might be in part because I've misheard the lyrics. The line in the link Lance provided is "The boy who ate your heart" but I've seen it elsewhere as, and always thought it was "The boy who ain't your heart..." Which makes it something else entirely -- so if that's not the actual lyric, I don't want to know.

4/5

 

Our votes for "Neurotic World"

1-0
2-0
3-7
4-5
5-1
Average: 3.5769

 

Today's song is "Don't Even Know Your Name", written by Liam Finn; produced by Burke Reid and Liam Finn; recorded by Burke Reid; mixed by Tchad Blake. The video below won't play in much of hte world, so I'll follow it with a Spotify Link.

Spotify: Don't Even Know Your Name
Lyric.
Liam Finn: all vocals and instruments except:
Glenn Kotche: contact mic drums*

*no idea what they are.

 

Least favorite song on the album by a mile. Just mindless indie fluff with no interesting parts besides the mildly enjoyable “oh-oh-oh-oh” chorus (?). Really boring and generic, and it’s tough for me to get through even half of this one. Liam is way more creative than this, which is evident on some of the upcoming tracks on this album.

1.5/5

 

Well I love it! It is breezy and well written. The lyric is all right as a vehicle for the melody— some real emotion and pain in there

. There is more than a bit of classic New Wave/post-punk influence here in the angular driving nervousness of the rhythm, but it sits really nicely alongside similar songs in Liam’s solo canon, like “Second Chance,” which it Resembles in its urgency. I don’t like it as much as that one but I do like it a lot and think it’s a really nice full on track after the mellow psychedelia of the introductory track.

There Is an emotional desperation in Liam’s singing, too, that reminds me a bit of Tim’s singing (though Liam is clearly more technically limited). I can feel it.

4.1/5

 

It's interesting that both this album and Pajama Club have such overt post-punk references in the music. Very early 80s sounding. The difference is, in my opinion, we weren't getting Neil's best on PJ Club, this probably was the best that Liam had to offer. It's certainly more commercial sounding than Champagne In Seashells or BARB.

 

Don’t Even Know Your Name

2.5/5

 

Strange reaction on this forum. The response on Facebook and Instagram has been quite the opposite. I think Liam's comic timing's perfect in this.

 

Don't Even Know Your Name

This is a song in a style I like, and this could almost be a CH song if sung by Neil. Like Everything is Good for You or the demo version of Saturday Sun. I feel that this style of song suits Liam's tendency for melodies without highlights. I like the chord progression, and the wordless vocal bits which then go into a chorus or bridge which is slightly wonky, melodically. Some falsetto bits don't work so well, but I like the arrangement a lot. I think this is one of my favourite Liam songs so far. In my top 5, but not No. 1.

4/5

A contact mic is a microphone which attaches to the instrument or other sound producing thing. They are used in a lot of circumstances. E.g. you can buy them and stick them on a mandolin - that's a common way they would be used. They are often piezoelectric mics, which are based around a material which generates an electric charge when it's squeezed or compressed When the object it's attached to vibrates, these vibrations alternately compresses and expands the piezoelectric material and hey, presto, a varying electric signal is created matching the sound of the instrument - as microphones do.

They can be useful because they only pick up the sound from the vibrating instrument, not the air. So, other sounds in the environment only get picked up to the degree that they make the instrument itself vibrate. If you have an electroacoustic guitar with a built-in pickup, then typically it's a built-in pizeoelectric mic in the bridge. What are sold as contact mics are made for sticking onto an instrument to create the physical connection. This is why electroacoustic guitars are often used in live contexts - as they are less affected by the very loud sounds on stage.



More on contact mic'ing drums here: Contact Miking Real Drums (Home & Studio Recording, Dec 1983)

 

Yeah, I was a bit surprised at how universally this was denounced; I definitely wouldn’t have posted it had I thought it would evoke such displeasure.

 

That video is very characteristic of Liam’s style of humor, which I have never, ever found funny. I have always found his humor extremely off-putting.

 

It's very child-like, I suppose. Maybe I've been watching too much Tik Tok. Because it definitely has that vibe.

There's also a missing context where there was a video with some CH roadie was going on and on about Liam's tone apparently, and he was just kind of deflating that, I think.

But I guess for me, I appreciate the effort: the video comprised a few different shots and was clearly well-edited together and told it's silly narrative with a good sense of timing-- and many people did think it was funny!

 

I didn't feel displeasure at seeing the video. I just thought it wasn't a very good joke.

 

I think Liam has a rather inflated opinion of himself which in my eyes is not justified .

i have witnessed first hand Liam’s humour backfiring big time .
During the Everyone is Here tour Tim and Neil with band put on for radio a mini concert on Bondi Beach .
Before the gig started Liam was sitting on the sand with another member of Betchadupa was with him . Anyway the radio announcer came into the crowd and asked Liam how he thinks his Dad and Uncle will do and he replied “ I think they will C**T it “
Needless to say the announcer quickly pulled the mic away from Liam and he started to unload on Liam and said “ what the f**K are you doing you can’t say that on radio “
He stored off and Liam just sat there , he got up and left and went and hid backstage .
I have often wondered if his attitude stoped him from having and kind of success in Australia as he is a total non entity here even with being signed to an Australian Label.

Liam is no doubt a very talented player and would make a lot of money doing a session work .
But as an artist he is nothing unique and is just a typical indie artist .

 

Well, he's on a minor label, and his music is pretty uncommercial --- I think both of those are reason enough that he's not a huge star in Australia, or anywhere.

I am doubtful that people are holding a grudge against the Betchadupa guy from literally 16 years ago, though. Nobody sells many records any more.

 

I think disappointed probably was more my reaction. Partly because so much of what is out there on Instagram and other platforms has become really informative. Of course, I have to acknowledge that it was well setup - but I was expecting something different...

 

Don't Even Know Your Name - Ah, I like the drive behind this song. It reminds me a little of "Second Chance" also which I do like a lot. I like it immediately, the only weak point being the falsetto (please stop!) but it's not enough for me to not listen to the song.

Since it's a first time listen I'm probably overrating it (or maybe I overrated the opening song?)
4/5

BTW thanks @HitAndRun for the info on contact mics. That was really helpful!
@Lance LaSalle - yeah Liam's video did remind me of a TikTok - maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind.

 

Liam is a truly unique artist and creates exceptional music.

 

Haha. Who’d a thunk Liam would be so controversial? WE all like what we like and dislike what we dislike for whatever reasons. There doesn't need to be rationality or logic to it, I'm sure we all agree on that.

I also do think that Liam is "unique"-- no one I know really sounds like him...but is he great? Ah, who knows? I know I like him, that's enough for me, though I don't like everything he's done, for sure -- Betchadupa's early stuff in particular is not my cup of tea -- and my overall impression -- which may change -- is the same as Robcar's: I like each album a little bit less than the one before, since I'll Be Lightning -- though Lightsleeper is pretty great.

However, his music does grow on me: I listened to Champagne in Seashells today at lunch (just because it was sort of next on my list -- I have a schedule of listening due to the vast amount of music I have) and I really really got into it (I did not listen on headphones.) Do i like it as much as I liked Together Alone 25 years ago? Well, no, I don't; but do I like anything that much? No.

I think that criticisms like "just a typical indie artist" are kind of easily dismissed though: what does it mean? It's just reductivist, and feel like I'm constantly fighting against reductivism on this website in general.

What does a "typical Indie artist"sound like?Because I like a lot of indie artists -- in fact, even the Finn Brothers themeselves are really bordering on the Indie side of things, especially for the last twenty years. Only Crowded House kind of keeps their head above the water commercially, in my opinion, in a traditional big label sort of way.

And at this point, a lot of that is rooted in music that's thirty years old or more. And it still doesn't sell records.

In fact, I'm sure that one could say "X is just a typical Y" for anybody that we don't like -- and I'm sure that people do even for Crowded House..."Crowded House is just a typical 80s pop band", typical American criticism (for the ones old enough to know anything about them at all); "Neil Young's a typical smelly hippy rock/folk music" I recently saw Prince dismissed as a "typical 80s MTV star" -- you get into someone, you know they are more than that. But you can't get into someone until you get into someone.

 

I think people are being a bit harsh on Liam on the basis of a silly joke. I'm not a huge fan of his music from what I've heard of it but the guy has talent as a multi-instrumentalist and he is making a living doing what he enjoys. All power to him for that.

Having a famous father is very much a double-edged sword in many ways. Although the name probably opens a few doors it will also come with a burden of expectation to follow the same path and to be as successful as his dad, which is most likely not going to happen, and we don't even know if Liam wants that. Neil and Crowded House were properly massive in the mid 90's and that is a very rare thing.

 

I think that Liam has his own sound and style of song, and I think his music is fairly distinctive. I can see how people might be divided between 'great' and 'meh' as his style of songwriting will suit some and not others. And, his vocals again may well work for some people and not others. So far I'm liking FOMO more than the other Liam solo albums we've covered.

 

I can see that, too; the thing is, he's not really a Phil Judd, where when people are like "ugh", I kind of say...yeah, I can see where you are coming from.

I feel like Liam's voice is fine, just not quite as arresting as his more famous relatives...but he's clearly got a lot of songs in him, he's arguably the best instrumentalist of the bunch -- certainly the best drummer, I think, having no experience with Elroy -- and he needs to get the music in him out -- if he can.

The trick is always to just make a living enough that he can keep putting out music -- as Neil said the other day "It's not about selling records, it's having the freedom to play everyday." At the same time I dont think that Liam is super-interested in being a household name, it's just a feeling I get.
If he was trying to be commercial with The Nihilist or Barb then he sure failed!

 

"Don't Even Know Your Name" starts off reasonably well, with good forward momentum and a note of urgency to Liam's singing. But it all falls apart with the shift that begins at 1:25 (and returns at 3:10 to finish off the song). That part I find downright ugly, and it spoils the song for me.

2/5

 

"Don't Even Know Your Name" doesn't really connect with me, which is interesting because pretty much all the rest of the album does in some way.

3/5

Also, can we not overlook the fact that in the Liam's guitar tone video he's calling out the Hotcake? *That* has got to be an intentional, and quite awesome, shout-out.
(A fella by the name of Paul Crowther makes those...)

 

Don't Even Know Your Name is further confirmation that I lost interest in Liam's music too easily 10 years ago.

I can hear the early U2 and later Wilco influences showing, but not overwhelming the song. I like it a lot, it sounds like a more professionally played Pajama Party song, there's not a bum note in the whole 4:09.

4.2/5