Liam Finn - FOMO (2011)

Returning to solo action after an extended busman’s holiday, Liam Finn consolidates the newfound strengths he developed while singing with Eliza Jane and playing with the Kiwi supergroup Barb. In particular, 2011’s Fomo retains a considerable amount of the spaciness of Barb’s eponymous 2010 album, but where that album intentionally drifted, this is anchored by Finn’s sharp songwriting, which still demonstrates a debt to his father Neil. Often, the album plays like an elastic interpretation of Try Whistling This, its textures stretching on waves of echoes and overdubbed harmonies, yet everything is always snapped back into focus by Liam's gift for melody. His knack for hooks and his skill at construction may mirror that of his father, but Liam Finn is his own man, displaying a keen fondness for psychedelia, and spending as much time crafting sound as song, resulting in a record that has enough hooks to pull a listener in on first spin, yet is dense enough to warrant decoding on subsequent plays.~FOMO Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine