Liam Finn could rightly be identified as a world citizen. The New Zealand native was a globetrotting toddler, accompanying father Neil Finn on Crowded House tours, repeating the experience as a young adult with his own band, the renowned Betchadupa. To record FOMO, the sophomore follow-up to 2007 solo debut I’ll Be Lightning, Finn relocated to London, but moved to New York City three years ago. Finn’s third solo set, The Nihilist, runs the gamut of his genetic and experiential influences. Finn will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.
Finn: My father first played me Tinariwen a few years ago just before we were about to do the WOMAD Festival in Australia with them. He was listening to them every night over dinner, and my brother and I both really got into it. Tinariwen are from the Sahara Dessert in the north of Mali and play their own distinct style of music that has influence from both West African music and rock ‘n’ roll. I love their guitar playing, and guitar tones. And the beats are effortlessly groovy but so unique and fresh to my ears. Behind their joyous sounding music is a long and heavy history. Founding member Ibrahim Ag Alhabib witnessed his father’s execution as a child during a rebel uprising against their government in the ’60s, and they sing about their situation living in exile in Libya, and of the massacre of their people. The band tour relentlessly still and have enlisted younger members to continue on their collective.
