Climbing the Gravity Stairs

Hi, I’m Matt, and welcome to Steady Beats: rumination on music, muscle, and motion at midlife.

This album is a big surprise.

Before we get to “Gravity Stairs,” the new album from New Zealand’s Crowded House, let’s hop in the DeLorean and head for August, 1987.

The late-summer days in Michigan are warm, humid, and bright. But already, nighttime encroaches increasingly early on the shortening daylight hours. A maple leaf or two may even have a hint of red pushing through the summer’s vibrant green.

Fall readies its attack, but summer still reigns.

My friends and I are ready to run West Intermediate Middle School as 8th graders. Days are spent at a local pool, and this song, from Crowded House, erupts from the pool deck speakers in regular rotation, cutting through the sounds of laughing kids, screeching toddlers, and moms counting the hours until September:

I still listen to “Something So Strong” regularly, along with its predecessor, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” from the same album.

Although I’ve heard both songs dozens of times, I lost track of the band after ‘87. Crowded House went through breakups, side projects, and reformations through the years, as bands will.

Which is why it was fun and surprising to rediscover the band’s new lineup and sound on Gravity Stairs.

Unlike The Pet Shop Boys’ new album “nonetheless,” which offers a familiar, if modernized, sound we remember from the 80s, Gravity Stairs bares no resemblance to the Crowded House sound of 1986 and 87.

Founding band member, vocalist, songwriter, instrumentalist—and one-time Lindsey Buckingham replacement—Neil Finn carryies on in the band’s current incarnation, which includes two of his sons, Elroy and Liam.

Unlike the pop sound of the 80s, there’s a 60s pop-folk vibe to Gravity Stairs. In an interview with Zane Lowe, Finn said:

… there’s a dreamy semi-psychedelic atmosphere that runs through the record. It’s not something we ever discussed, but it was something that was laid out by that first track [Magic Piano] a little bit.

One of the things I enjoy about listening to new music is drawing parallels to other bands and albums. It’s fun to link sounds, rhythms, and melodies to other music I know well.

The Association’s “Never My Love,” for example, would be right at home nested inside Gravity Stairs.

I hear Mumford & Sons on Gravity Stairs, without the aggressively-paced acoustic guitars. And lots of nods to The Beatles. (Neil Finn did, after all, sleep in John and Yoko’s bed one time.)

This isn’t an album where you’ll add a couple of catchy tracks to a playlist. It’s best consumed whole, worthy of giving it space to establish itself over 11 tracks and 40 minutes. In the Lowe interview, Finn calls the album “dinner music”:

Well, this is a glorious dinner music piece, and also lovely for going to sleep, too, because it’s very calming.

Like dinner, each course of Gravity Stairs complements the others, and is best experienced in a continuous experience.

This on-target review calls Gravity Stairs a “headphone album:”

I agree. There are many small, understated flourishes that create layers to the tracks: discreet background vocals, light instrumental additions. The result is that, with repeated listens, a lot of new sounds open up.

If you’re looking for catchy hooks or repetitive lyrics that stick in your mind, you’ll be disappointed by Gravity Stairs. If you appreciate song construction that features many layers and unique touches, and enjoy a Magical Mystery Tour-like musical expedition, then you might like Gravity Stairs as much as I do.

That old swimming pool sits empty these days, an empty shell left over from another time. Crowded House, with new energy and innovative songwriting, overflows today with a creative and interesting sound.

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Thank you for reading Steady Beats #245

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