I've always loved The Chills, which is why I was surprised to discover last year that their only album I still had in my collection was the
Submarine Bells CD (as well as a
Best Of on CD-R). Did I really sell my vinyl copies of
Brave Words and
Soft Bomb during The Great Vinyl Purge? It seems so, though I don't remember doing it, and it makes no sense. I toyed with the idea of re-buying them, but
first things first: Get rid of the CD-R and get myself a
proper collection of The Chills' early -and best- singles:
Kaleidoscope World is
the essential Chills purchase - the only one you'll find on
this list. Furthermore, it is
the essential
Flying Nun LP, which in turn makes it the pinnacle of
Kiwi alt-rock. You may not think of it by looking at the map, but this island country at the very edge of the world has produced its own distinctive and influential brand of indie music, which critics dubbed the
Dunedin sound, after the Chills' homeland in South New Zealand. Other bands in that movement include The Clean, Bats, Straightjacket Fits, Verlaines, and Tall Dwarves - all from Dunedin or Christchurch (also in the Southern Island of NZ) and recording for Flying Nun records. The common element is jangly guitars, melody, and a certain rawness in the sound and production. Listening to The Chills, one can discern strong influences of Velvet Underground, The Byrds and Arthur Lee's Love.There are similarities to the so-called C-86 scene in UK and to the Paisley Underground scene in the US, but this is more idiosyncratic, low-key and often lo-fi. Opener "Kaleidoscope World" is the perfect example: mid-tempo rhythm, jangly guitars, melodic without being sugary. Two more singles combine indie pop with garage ("
Rolling Moon") and psychedelia ("
Pink Frost") while "Doledrums" sounds like a cross of Syd Barrett and VU. But this compilation is about more than delivering well-crafted singles: there's also a lot of space for experimenting, as in the quirky bells and galloping rhythm of "Satin Doll" or the sax on instrumental "
Purple Girl". "Whole Weird World" and "Dream By Dream" are also slow, experimental psych. Next to that, you have some punk throwbacks like "Bite" and "Flame Thrower" and the folk-ish "This Is The Way" and "Bee Bah Bee Bah Bee Boe". Mid tempo "
Frantic Drift" and the (actually frantic) "Never Never Go" and "Hidden Bey" read like the VU with a more affable/less intense singer. "I Love My Leather Jacket" is another perfect garage pop single. At first glance an ode to one's favorite piece of clothing, it's really a dedication to their former drummer Martyn Bull, who died of leukemia at age 22, leaving his leather jacket to singer
Martin Phillips. The album closes with a brooding psychedelic track called "
The Great Escape". The Chills wrote great potential hits that nevertheless proved just a
little too weird to propel them to stardom. But they had a distinctive and influential sound, and still retain enough of a cult following to support a successful reformation all those years later. Not bad for a band from a small town at the far edge of the world!
***** for Rolling Moon, Pink Frost, Doledrums, I Love My Leather Jacket
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