FLYING FINN

Harper Finn is the latest member of New Zealand's first family of music to take his songwriting to the world.

- RUSSELL BAILLIE

Ever since he put his handsome head above the parapet, Harper Finn has been answering questions about that surname of his. Yes, he is the son of Tim Finn, the founder of Split Enz who these days is in musical semiretirement, knocking out the occasional musical, opera or albums with old mates.

Meanwhile, his Sydneyborn, Auckland-raised son is a young man in a hurry. He just might be our next international pop star. Right now, the 24-year-old is in New York, hopefully shifting into the post-pandemic hello-world phase of his solo career as his EP Newcomer is released.

It's coming up three years since Finn began releasing his sophisticated, occasionally 1980s-tinged pop songs to steadily increasing streaming numbers. His 2020 track Dance Away These Days is heading towards 3.5 million plays on Spotify, and the earlier Conversations (With the Moon) towards a million.

On songs like those, and their accompanying videos, it might seem he has inherited a few things from his father: a great head of hair underlined by serious eyebrows, a sweet falsetto, a natural showmanship when standing behind the mic and a sweet way with a tune when seated at the piano.

And talking to Finn the younger a week or two before he left for the US, where he is signed to Atlantic Records via his ties to Warner Music New Zealand, there are strong echoes of another family trait the self-belief that got his father and his Uncle Neil places in their heyday. The force is strong with this one.