Downtown Puff

Although Downtown Puff was released as a solo project, it represents a multitude of musical collaborations, including Anna Coddington as well as Neil Finn and Tim Finn. Two of the other collaborators were Geoff Maddock and Joel Wilton, the other sides of the creative triangle which made up the short-lived Flying Nun phenomenon Bressa Creeting Cake. Since the dissolution of the band soon after the release of their acclaimed (self-titled) album in 1997 Geoff and Joel have found popular and critical success with Goldenhorse.

Much of the material on the album was devised while McWilliams was living in a third-floor studio space on Gore Street in Auckland's red-light district. This particular audio environment - with its incessant street brawls, strip club pop and Doobie Brothers hits played by the covers band in the 24-hour bar downstairs - provided a peculiar backdrop for the evolution of delicate instrumentals on tracks such as "Airshow" and "You're Watching Me". It was here too that McWilliams recorded the one-take improvised vocal for "My Son the Harpist", an intentionally free-form lyric which reveals itself to be the story of a complex father/son relationship in a fictitious Pacific village. Since demolished by a property developer called Carpark 80, as part of the dock area clean-up initiated by the Britomart transport project, this setting also provided lyrical inspiration for "Oh Baby Bear" - an ode to Auckland's outmoded transport system.

Track listing

"Secret Girl" – 3:16
"We Live Like Kings" – 2:11
"Golden Man" – 4:51
"Gunga" – 3:27
"My Son The Harpist" – 4:39
"You're Watching Me" – 3:10
"The Airshow" – 5:08
"Silverdale" – 4:16
"Beautiful Sleep" – 2:33
"Oh Baby Bear" - 3:08

External links