Neil Finn ponders the effect of fairies on his life

He is without one of the greatest songwriters of his generation but with his new album, One Nil, Neil Finn underscores why he is immortals. In this two-story special, Mike Gee delivers the story behind the new album and an exclusive track-by-track review.

It is late 1998, Neil Finn has released his experimental and deceptively dark Try Whistling This, a solo debut that challenges the cherished notions that abound about this extraordinarily talented singer/songwriter and performer.

And while everybody sat around analysing this song and that song and sharing critical perceptions, Finn himself was already looking ahead. So where next? was the obvious question.

And that's where the official biography picks up the story of the man who had already conquered most of the world as a key figure in either or both Split Enz and Crowded House.

"In 1999, mysterious shipments began arriving at the Finn Homestead. Technician scratched their heads and wondered. The New Zealand authorities began to keep tabs on Auckland's favourite son, 'just in case'. Neil himself wasn't telling; he smiled obscurely and cheerfully set off for the other side of the world, leaving them all guessing.

"Neil Finn. International commuter, his spiky quiff has bobbed in the sodium glow of countless airport lounges. Passing through LA in the year of Pre-Millennium Tension, he hooked up with Tchad Blake, who mixed Try Whistling This. Tchad, a very scientific tchap, litters recording studios with his light reading - The Case Against God, or maybe Mathematics and Sex. An intense being, with a maverick edge. When Tchad opened a studio door somewhere in the city - 'Neil, there's some people I'd like you to meet' - Neil was understandably apprehensive. He had met Tchad's kind of people before...

"Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, once upon a time the flower fairies of Prince's paisley court, smiled at Tchad and the bequiffed newcomer. 'They're great musicians, but I'm not sure they're entirely human,' whispered Tchad. Wendy laughed and sucked on a moonbeam, as fairies will. Neil, as Kiwis will, settled for a nice cup of tea. He and Wendy jammed one afternoon at Tchad's house, and soon they had written a song together - the lilting dreamlike Secret God. It was the start of a fruitful collaboration - Wendy shares writing credits with Neil on five tracks of the new album, One Nil.

"Back in Auckland, Neil ordered the wooden crates opened. Computers! Heaps of computers. Neil's intention was to broadcast on the internet - to jump into it 'boots and all, rather than just dabble'. His new Net site (www.nilfun.net) is already up and running and, for a website, it is unusually engaging and substantial, a reaction against sites which are 'trying to make money out of the internet before it's even established as an interesting place to be.'

"At nilfun.net viewers are privy to Finnformation direct from source, by way of diaries; can access photographs and footage from the archives; can even download sound samples from the man's studio sessions to create their own remixes. Neil is aware that this is the only start - 'it will basically be like having your own TV channel, but better,' he says. Eventually he plans to broadcast more new music - 'I could write a song in the morning, record it in the afternoon, and have it delivered to the public by the evening, as live performance.' Then there is the exciting prospect of 'where you'll be able to sort of just reach into the computer screen, and take out the picture of what's there, like a chocolate bar, and it'll be real! Of course,' he mutters, 'It's early days yet.'

"1999 turned to 2000. The Millennium Bug was a non-event, and meanwhile the new album was coming on a pace. 'It feels like a good time when Wendy plays,' enthuses Neil, but, being Neil, he has to drop some bloody miserable lyrics over the top. 'Year after year, the demons always come,' he sings on the wrenching Driving Me Mad, whilst Anytime finds him pondering death: 'I could go anytime/ there's nothing safe about this life'. Despite this One Nil contains some of his most openly romantic lyrics to date - see the lovely Wherever You Are, or the solid pop of Rest of the Day Off. There is plenty of doubt and darkness, but love offers comfort, as does humour - "Fear is so contagious, but I'm not afraid to laugh.' Maybe Wendy's good time feel rubbed off after all.

"For the last leg of the album, everyone came over to Auckland. Wendy travelled by cuttlefish; Lisa just materialised at the piano one day, to the sound of a jazz dream. (Her introspective playing brushes the fadeout of Secret God with colours hitherto not found on a Neil Finn record.) Also present were Jim Moginie, of Midnight Oil; and drummer J.J. Johnson from the States. The good doctor Tchad Blake was back in the engineer's seat. For these sessions, Neil dressed Auckland's Revolver recording studio, an atmosphere-enhancing technique from producer Youth back in the Crowded House days. A parachute canopy loomed over the players, candles and sofa abounded, and there was a dodgy carpet of no small 70s horror. The final effect was a living room/ circus/ opium den environment. Lisa chewed gum and wore an old man's cap.

"Across the carpark from Revolver is Sanitarium foods, a cereal and health food manufacturer run by Seventh Day Adventists. The smell that often drifts into the studio is dictated by the cereal being made that day: Tuesday is Honeypuffs; Friday, Nutrigrain. Recording sessions at Revolver can fall into a kind of smell cycle. Tchad was especially interested in this, noticing the effect that the smell of Weetbix had on Wendy - she would just fall asleep on the spot, 'totally non-compos'. Tchad started murmuring notes into his dictaphone. 'Come on guys!' pleaded Neil, 'We've got an album to finish here!'

"Somehow between daytrips to the beautiful beach at Piha on the West Coast (which inspired much of the album's lyrical imagery), the overseeing of the website, and the marshalling of American flower fairies - the album was concluded. First single Rest Of The Day was born from these sessions, as was the punchy Hole In The Ice, which pits Neil's savage verse against Lisa's quieting chord progression in the chorus. This complex of styles is typical of the album. Lyrically more direct and emotionally tender, Neil continues to embrace diversity and the need for change. As Wendy says: 'he's done good.'

"Neil himself acknowledges that 'there's a kind of consistency and familiarity in having had a long career,' but as the new album suggests, he is not 'particularly interested in mining that.' What does interest him is the ongoing search for new ways of making music. 'I haven't discovered fully what the Neil Finn sound is' he reckons, 'but I'm enjoying the exploration.' Most recently, Neil has branched out into soundtrack composition for the forthcoming New Zealand film, Rain. He worked on the project with fellow Aucklander Edmund McWilliams, who developed a full orchestral effect for the project using a zither, a drinking glass, rubber bands and a tape-machine. Such unlikely techniques compliment Neil's continuing enthusiasm for experiment, and for his listeners his career remains constantly rewarding, with plenty of delights to come. Just what these may be remains to be seen - as the man himself says, 'I really haven't discovered what I can do yet.' "

As biographies go that is one of the more interesting, witty and zany; the fairies are really quite lovely. Wendy and Lisa will never be the same. But it also points to the continued change in the way Finn is presenting himself. There's a smile, a light-heartedness and a wry sense of humour that is now far more obvious and upfront than ever before.

One Nil also opens the dialogue further. It's a wonderful record; warmer, more immediate yet more subtle than Try Whistling This and many of the songs are among the finest he's ever written. And that's saying something. Here's the review and track-by-track run through.