(Parlophone) ***

REUNITED for the first time since their farewell concert outside Sydney Opera House in 1996, Crowded House have made their first record in 14 years.

It began life as a Neil Finn solo project, and in many ways it still is, with no involvement from brother Tim or drummer and best friend Paul Hester, whose suicide in 2005 prompted a troubled Finn to contemplate his own mortality.

The album title indicates as much, although its origins lie in a now discarded song.

Crowding up the House once more are perfectionist songwriter Finn, founder bassist Nick Seymour and former member Mark Hart, newly joined by Beck drummer Matt Sherrod, and for the first six songs, the house feels familiar: melancholic musings and McCartney melodies, now with a snag of Lennon distemper.

Nobody Wants To is vulnerable and gorgeous; the single Don't Stop Now has you wishing it wouldn't; Pour Le Monde claims its place in Finn's top five sad beauties of all time; Johnny Marr's guitar succours Even A Child.

Finn, however, breaks the maudlin tempo only twice in the eight remaining numbers, finesse is replaced by fuzzy guitar in Silent House (written with George Bush's she-devils the Dixie Chicks) and by a German airport announcer, jazz beats and girly backing vocals in Transit World, although English Trees is pastoral bliss.