Crowded House: It's Only Natural
[purchase]
Surely, there are choices of more obvious and consistent substance for this week's theme - songs which utilize found sound throughout, and depend on them to carry the tone of a musical piece. But let us not underestimate the establishment of that tone, as evidenced here in the madcap, cartoonish, don't-blink-you'll-miss-it found sound collage which kicks off my favorite "guilty pleasure" Crowded House single, released as the last of five charting singles for Woodface (1991), a critical and popular success and the first and only Crowded House album to feature songwriter and band founder Neil Finn's brother Tim, who had previously worked with him for decades in Split Enz. The breezy artpop which follows is all the more perfect for having emerged from such a short, sweet cacophony.