Liam Finn - I'll Be Lightning

You’d be hard pushed to read a review of I’ll Be Lightning without being subjected to the unavoidable biog. He’s Neil Finn’s son, ergo he sometimes sounds like Crowded House. But we won’t leave Finn Snr alone just yet, because to avoid mentioning that he would've been proud to have penned any song on this album would be an injustice to this particular offspring. From the opening bravado brimming brace of Better To Be and Second Chance, to the sumptuous acoustic gospel-fuelled Wise Man and Beatles-esque title track, I’ll Be Lightning is an album loaded with a personality and confidence that proves Liam Finn is not content to rest on the greying laurels of Dad and Uncle Tim - he’s taking them to another level, a new audience and establishing himself as one of the most exciting and enjoyable singer-songwriters of 2008. The comparisons were inevitable, but that he’s exceeding them is a massive musical windfall. [Finbarr Bermingham]