Really, there is no new Crowded House album. Any time he's been asked about it in the last few years, even during their Encore shows, Neil said something like "the band's up on blocks in the garage," as in not broken up but in storage for now. On the other hand he HAS talked about an album with Liam, and vaguely about a solo-ish album. All available information says there is no Crowded House album recorded or in the works, can we put that to bed?
My theory is that the non-Liam album has something to do with the live project he recently did with Glenn Kotche and Andrew Bird and the chamber orchestra. That could explain all those bubbles.