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You would have to say Liam Finn is not in an enviable position. Sure his band Betchadupa (along with fellow members Matt Eccles, Chris Garland and Joe Bramley) have had a pretty good ride of it so far signed young to the legendary Flying Nun label, then picked up by Australian label Liberation (where the band currently reside). But when your father is one of this countrys greatest pop music successes, whether intentionally or not, there is a reasonable amount of pressure for you to perform (both artistically and financially). And I have to say, based on 'Aiming For Your Head', Betchupa (and thus young Mister Finn) have certainly tackled the artistic part of that pressure with some style. In all facets (production, songwriting, musicianship) this new album is leaps and bounds ahead of previous efforts, with the band, and Finn particularly, exuding immense creative confidence - no doubt helped by "key" support slots for the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age, Jane's Addiction and Pearl Jam. Liam Finn takes on most songwriting chores, and like his father has an ear for "classic" pop music (Beatles, Beach Boys, Kinks, etc), albeit with a more complex and at times youthful bent (Finn cites Fugazi as another current influence). Of course in places Finn does conjure up the vocal influences of his father, however in such places the recollection reminds one of both Split Enz and Crowded House at their respective creative peaks - no bad thing! Elsewhere fantastic tracks such as "My Army Of Birds And Gulls", the title track "Aiming For Your Head", "Move Over", "Weekend", "The Bats Of Darkwell Lane", "The Ocean Is The Cure" and current single "Who's Coming Through The Window", show a band with a remarkably mature, varied and accomplished sense of musicality. While many of their New Zealand commercial "pop" contemporaries focus on a more straight forward and simplistic approach, Finn and Betchadupa are adding a welcome and increasingly challenging edge to their music, not in terms of volume or noise, but rather in the nuances of songwriting and musicianship, underlying both the long term nature of the band and Liam Finn's undoubted abilities as a songwriter. Recommended. (smokecds.com)
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