Finn Brothers

Tim and Neil Finn’s second album, Everyone Is Here, is a far cry from its predecessor, 1995’s Finn, a loose, playful, DIY affair on which the two former bandleaders (Tim fronted Split Enz and Neil, Crowded House) played and sang every note, apart from a single bass part. This record, by contrast, was two years and tens of thousands of air miles in the making, beginning with relaxed but disciplined co-writing sessions in the Finns’ native New Zealand.

“We put higher expectations on this record in terms of how fully realized it should be,” Neil explains by phone from Auckland. “We just felt like we’d come a long way in our lives as musicians, and I’m eternally grateful for the fact that the whole thing has lasted so long. And we’ve got strong family connections, individually and together, and we’ve both relocated to New Zealand in the last 10 years, so we wanted to be true to all that. We didn’t want to be overt about it, like we were making a grand statement. It was more to do with touching the deep things within ourselves as honestly as we could. I’m initially always a little cautious of being too direct, but Tim encouraged me to think about this album in those terms, and I’m really glad he did.”

With a batch of freshly written songs in tow, the brothers headed to London to work with producer Tony Visconti (Bowie, T.Rex). While all that came of the aborted sessions was the partially completed “Disembodied Voices” and string arrangements for three other tracks, the experience helped the Finns realize what the material begged for — performances as collaboratively vibrant as the songs themselves.

A few months later, they were in Hollywood’s Cello Studios with drummer Matt Chamberlain, bass player Sebastian Steinberg, guitarist/keyboardist Jon Brion and engineer Adam Kasper, working without a net — or click tracks — and bringing the songs to life. “We came at things in surprising ways because of the collection of players and the maverick spirit of people like Jon Brion,” Neil says. “Some things were kind of wacky and misshapen in a really good way. And there was a genuine feeling of good spirit in the room — it felt like a real band.”

Delighted with the spirit of their work in progress, the Finns moved to the home studio of producer Mitchell Froom to put the finishing touches on the record. “It was really great to be back with Mitchell again, and quite emotional,” says Tim, who was in Crowded House for the recording of 1991’s Woodface, Froom’s final project with the band. “It was an act of friendship as much as a piece of work.”