Crowded House on Love and Loss

An LA Times review finds Time on Earth, the new album by the recently reformed Crowded House, to be a moving exploration of love and loss. “Pop music reunions are, more often than not, driven by commerce and/or nostalgia, so the fact that the resurrection of this wondrous pure-pop band from New Zealand grew out of shared personal loss gives this one a far richer subtext than most … In Time on Earth, the melancholy is palpable and heavy, and although everything doesn’t revolve directly around the loss of a loved one, that theme surfaces in several of these eminently hummable songs.” Original Crowded House drummer Paul Hester committed suicide in 2005. His death compelled former bandmates Neil Finn and Nick Seymour to reform the band earlier this year, with new drummer Matt Sherrod.