ONCE upon a time, there’d be scores of adverts for band members in newspapers, magazines, newsagents’ windows or music weeklies. Now, it’s more likely a website like Gumtree will find the Lennon seeking McCartney. For Neil Finn, finding a band to play on his latest album was easier still. He just asked his sons, Liam and Elroy.

“I’ve always wanted to do it,” says Finn who’s no stranger to keeping things in the family. As a teenager, before Crowded House was a twinkle in his eye, he joined his brother Tim’s band Split Enz. At the time, they were one of New Zealand’s biggest acts.

“I’d love to do work with them again, too, maybe more of a writing collaboration next time. My whole family is talented. I admire the songs Liam has written and the way he plays, and our son Elroy is developing as a good writer, plus he’s a great drummer. It wasn’t a hard sell for me.”

Liam, 30, has released two solo albums with a third on the way, while Elroy, who’s six years younger, has played drums for his brother and is in various bands.

“We’re not competitive,” Finn asserts.

“Well, not badly so. There’s a little bit of winding each other up, but if someone in the family has written a song, it inspires me to go off and write one myself.

“It’s hard to differentiate between being inspired, being competitive, and thinking you know best. And there is a tendency among parents to do that,” he says, in a manner that suggests he’s been guilty of thinking he knows best more than a few times. “Eventually, you learn that you don’t know everything, and it worked out on the record. We’re all still friends, all still enjoying each other’s company. It can’t have been that bad for them, can it?”

Listening to the resulting Dizzy Heights suggests that he’s right. It’s an album that sounds relaxed, although the man who wrote it isn’t sure whether to agree with that or not.

“I am loath to predict how people will perceive my music,” he says. “Sometimes you don’t feel like you have a creative bone in your body, but the next day it comes back home to you.”

Finn reckons his skill as a songwriter is in his perseverance. “It would be easy for me to say, ‘No, I’ve written enough songs now’, but actually, I still find it mysterious and amazing, and I’ll endure a lot of struggles to write more songs.”

Dizzy Heights is Finn’s third solo album, the follow-up to 2002’s One Nil – but there have been two Crowded House albums and a handful of other assorted releases in the meantime. As the founder of Crowded House, Finn became synonymous with perfectly honed, classic-sounding pop. His biggest hits include Fall At Your Feet, Weather With You, Don’t Dream It’s Over and It’s Only Natural, songs which took Crowded House around the world many times and helped them sell 20m albums.

But so gentle was their approach that the advertising campaign for their 1996 Best Of compilation, Recurring Dream, featured the tagline “You know more Crowded House songs than you think you do”.

Dizzy Heights is more of a detour than a change in direction for Finn. He puts much of that down to the producer he chose to work with, Dave Fridmann. As well as being a non-touring member of Mercury Rev since 1993, Fridmann has worked with artists like The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Weezer, Tame Impala and The Cribs.

“There aren’t many producers that do a very specific ‘thing’,” says Finn. “But Dave is one of them. I love the idea of being surprised and amazed in the studio at this stage of my career, and Dave can do that.

He can transform things.”

Dizzy Heights was finished around seven months ago but the result delayed until after Christmas – allowing Finn to rehearse the band and make some videos.”

The latter pursuit has been particularly fulfilling for Finn, who is something of an amateur film-maker.

“We went on holiday last year, after I’d finished the record, and every day we’d see these kids on the island, jumping off these giant rocks into the sea. We got to know them a little and I filmed them jumping. I also filmed out of the plane window on the way home, all these great cloud formations and things. Eventually, I got it so it looked like the kids were jumping into clouds.”

The video is used on the song Divebomber.

“The video, the new way of making the album... It’s about me being less controlled and ordered,” he says. “I’m all for keeping the kitchen tidy, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to become fussy and that’s a big deal for me. I’m trying to get less tasteful as I get older.”

  • Neil Finn’s third solo album Dizzy Heights is out now. He tours to Sage Gateshead tonight