Those of you who've been reading Splendid for a while might have noticed that I have a tendency to invoke Kiwi bands -- particularly the Chills -- when offering high praise. So naturally, when a disc from Chills frontman Martin Phillipps arrived in the office, I pounced on it.
Sketch Book: Volume One is a cherry-picked collection of "home demos and works in progress" recorded by Phillipps between 1988 and 1995. During this period, the Chills released Submarine Bells and Soft Bomb and then pretty much collapsed, with Phillipps later releasing Sunburnt as a sort of post-mortem.
The most minimal moments of those albums are echoed here, as Phillipps' sing-song vocal style is paired with simple-yet-enveloping keyboard and guitar melodies and deceptively facile lyrics. As is the case with many Chills songs, wordplay is important; the repetition and interaction of sounds gives Phillipps' voice its hypnotic quality. Listen to a tune like "No More Tigers," nominally a conservation epic, and see how its chorus quickly worms its way into your head. Similarly, "Crow" takes well-bottom vocals and autumnal imagery to create a mood that's solemn, but charged with energy.
Phillipps is a likeable narrator. His voice, somehow instantly familiar, adds an edge of almost desperate honesty to the stories he tells. You become involved in a grim folktale like "Carabela," and are thankful for the way "Small Spark" addresses the abortion issue on a personal level, without worrying about choosing sides for political purposes. It's an "everyperson" perspective, with messages whispered rather than shouted.
As the disc's unreadable liner notes (thankfully reproduced here) attest, not all of these tunes are finished. Some lack integral parts, others require merely a final polish, and a couple -- like the Brian-Wilson-inspired "Warm" -- are just experiments. Still most of them -- particularly well-rounded songs like "Hawea", "The Crow" and "Residential Green Cell" -- show that Phillipps has a lot of quality material left in him.
The millennium sees Phillipps, finally pulling himself free of prescription drugs and general malaise, returning to the stage and studio, both as a solo artist and accompanied by a new incarnation of the Chills. They may never be as good as the band was in its heyday, but as Sketch Book: Volume One makes clear, the magic remains.
