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Gravity Stairs

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Gravity Stairs
The five members of Crowded House's faces drawn facing different directions in the style of the Beatles' Revolver cover artwork
Studio album by
Crowded House
Released31 May 2024 (2024-05-31)
Length40:40
Label
Producer
Crowded House chronology
Dreamers Are Waiting
(2021) 		Gravity Stairs
(2024)
Singles from Gravity Stairs
  1. "Oh Hi"
    Released: 8 February 2024
  2. "Teenage Summer"
    Released: 12 April 2024[1]
  3. "The Howl"
    Released: 31 May 2024[2]

Gravity Stairs is the eighth studio album by Australian rock band Crowded House, released on 31 May 2024 through Lester Records and BMG Rights Management. It was preceded by the release of the lead single "Oh Hi" on 8 February 2024. The album received favourable reviews from critics.

At the 2024 ARIA Music Awards, the album was nominated for ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album and Crowded House & Steven Schram were nominated for Best Produced Release.[3]

Background

[edit]

The band produced the album with Steven Schram,[4] with frontman Neil Finn stating that the band wanted to maintain a "dreamy quality" on the record yet be more "lyrically direct".[5] Lead single "Oh Hi" was inspired by Finn's work for the nonprofit organisation So They Can, which builds schools in remote areas of Kenya and Tanzania.[6] Finn named the album after a stone staircase near a place he vacations, which he compared to his mentality as a musician, calling the title a "metaphor for getting a little older and becoming aware of your own mortality, your own physicality" as there is "more determination needed to get to the top, but there's still the same compulsion to climb".[6] The cover art is a pastiche of the Beatles' 1966 album Revolver[7] drawn by Nick Seymour.[8]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic73/100[9]
Review scores
SourceRating
Classic Rock[10]
Mojo[11]
MusicOMH[12]
Uncut6/10[13]

Gravity Stairs received a score of 73 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on five reviews, which the website categorised as "generally favorable" reception.[9] Mojo's Andy Fyfe called the album "the most Crowded House thing that Crowded House have made in 30 years" as "'Teenage Summer', 'Oh Hi' and particularly 'All That I Can Ever Own' and 'The Howl' effortlessly withstand direct comparison with the band's mid-'90s peak".[11] John Murphy of MusicOMH summarised it as "a welcome reminder that the Finn family are still going strong, with upbeat, breezy numbers set against languid, deliberately paced tracks".[12]

Damian Jones of Classic Rock wrote that "gone (for the most part) are the familiar pop hooks that dominated [the band's] early records, exchanged for more thoughtful, complicated arrangements as frontman Neil Finn contemplates his own mortality".[10] Uncut felt that "Crowded House's eighth studio release ticks all the expected boxes. Pitch-perfect harmonies and inventive chord sequences abound. [...] Where it falls short, perhaps, is the absence of the full-blooded radio-friendly hits of old, although the shuffling 'All That I Can Ever Own' is a close cousin to 1993's 'Distant Sun'".[13]

Track listing

[edit]
Gravity Stairs track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Magic Piano"Neil Finn4:46
2."Teenage Summer"N. Finn4:47
3."The Howl"Liam Finn3:26
4."All That I Can Ever Own"N. Finn3:04
5."Oh Hi"N. Finn2:59
6."Some Greater Plan (for Claire)"
4:10
7."Black Water, White Circle"N. Finn3:42
8."Blurry Grass"
3:09
9."I Can't Keep Up with You"
  • L. Finn
  • N. Finn
4:01
10."Thirsty"
  • E. Finn
  • N. Finn
3:30
11."Night Song"N. Finn4:12
Total length:40:40

Notes

  • On physical editions, "Teenage Summer" is titled "Life's Imitation".[14]

Personnel

[edit]

Crowded House

Additional contributors

  • Steven Schram – production, mixing, electric guitar on "The Howl" and "I Can't Keep Up with You"
  • Bob Ludwig – engineering
  • Paul Taylor – percussion
  • Sharon Finn – additional vocals on "Magic Piano" and "All That I Can Ever Own"
  • Ladyhawke – additional vocals on "Teenage Summer"
  • Tim Finn – additional vocals on "Some Greater Plan (for Claire)"
  • Antonis Moriatis – bouzouki on "Some Greater Plan (for Claire)"
  • Elias Dendias – bouzouki on "Some Greater Plan (for Claire)"
  • Nassos Vlachos – guitar on "Some Greater Plan (for Claire)"
  • Tryfon Baitsis – guitar on "Some Greater Plan (for Claire)"
  • Lauryn Canny – additional backing vocals on "Black Water, White Circle", additional vocals on "Blurry Grass" and "Thirsty"
  • Eliza-Jane Barnes – additional vocals on "Thirsty"
  • Jimmy Metherell – additional vocals on "Thirsty"
  • Zoe Moon – additional vocals on "Night Song"

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for Gravity Stairs
Chart (2024) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] 3
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16] 78
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[17] 4
Scottish Albums (OCC)[18] 6
UK Albums (OCC)[19] 8
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[20] 3

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Crowded House Continue Album Rollout with 'Teenage Summer'". Rolling Stone. 12 April 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Crowded House Share 'The Howl' Video As New Album Arrives". Tanga Media Rock. 3 June 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  3. ^ "ARIA Awards 2024 nominations — everything you need to know". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 26 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  4. ^ Mack, Emmy (16 February 2024). "Crowded House Announce Eighth Studio Album, Gravity Stairs". Music Feeds. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Crowded House's Neil Finn on New Album Gravity Stairs and Supporting Charity with "Oh Hi": Podcast". Consequence. 4 March 2024. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  6. ^ a b Lochrie, Conor (16 February 2024). "Crowded House Announce Eighth Album Gravity Stairs". Rolling Stone Australia. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  7. ^ Sinclair, Paul (15 February 2024). "Crowded House / Gravity Stairs". Super Deluxe Edition. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  8. ^ Finn, Neil (30 May 2024). "Neil Finn: Crowded House, Gravity Stairs, & Influence of The Beatles". Retrieved 31 May 2024 – via YouTube.
  9. ^ a b "Gravity Stairs by Crowded House Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  10. ^ a b Jones, Damian (31 May 2024). ""Pianos play by themselves and dark forces conjure suspicious shadows": Crowded House make for uneasy listening on Gravity Stars". Classic Rock. Retrieved 5 June 2024 – via Loudersound.
  11. ^ a b Fyfe, Andy (31 May 2024). "Crowded House Gravity Stairs Review: Neil Finn and co. match up to their mid-90s peak". Mojo. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  12. ^ a b Murphy, John (28 May 2024). "Crowded House – Gravity Stairs | Album Reviews". MusicOMH. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  13. ^ a b "Crowded House – Gravity Stairs". Uncut. June 2024. p. 32.
  14. ^ Crowded House. Gravity Stairs (Media notes). Lester/BMG Rights Management.
  15. ^ "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. 10 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Ultratop.be – Crowded House – Gravity Stairs" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  17. ^ "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 10 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  18. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
  19. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
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