Rockbites: David Kilgour’s 4th solo album: shimmering kiwi rock

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David Kilgour’s 4th solo album: shimmering kiwi rock
22 January 2002

New Zealand guitarist and songwriter David Kilgour is best known for his work with his band The Clean (which also includes his brother Hamish and Bats vocalist Robert Scott) and with Hoboken, New Jersey pop stylists Yo La Tengo. Today Kilgour releases his fourth solo album for the US on Merge Records. New Zealand fans get a domestic version on 1 February on Arclife Records, while the set is available now in the UK and Europe as a Merge import.
    Titled A Feather In The Engine, the 13 track LP follows Kilgour’s last solo effort, First Steps And False Alarms, by seven years. It also follows Kilgour’s appointment a year ago to the New Zealand Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth of England for his contributions to the arts.
    If you’re not so well versed in Kilgour’s solo work but have heard The Clean, the new LP reveals just how much of the legendary NZ band’s blithe but captivating sound is due to Kilgour. For that reason, much of it will sound familiar. On the other hand, Kilgour takes advantage of this solo project to broaden his horizons, play around a bit, and focus more keenly on getting the songs just so right.
    The tracks range from instrumentals vaguely reminiscent of Tom Verlaine’s solo work on Warm And Cool (Sept. 98, Instra 2), to classic kiwi jangle (All The Rest, I Lost My Train), to some stunning pop experimentation (Slippery Slide, with the coolest trashy noise of the year; and I Caught You, which couples Dylanesque vocals with trip-hop glide), to a truly great Rolling Stones tribute (Today Is Gonna Be Mine).
    For A Feather In The Engine, Kilgour worked with frequent collaborator, engineer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Nick Roughan (Bilge Festival, Bailterspace, Superette), and enlisted Graeme Downes of The Verlaines for help on keyboards and string arrangements. A slew of other notable guests dropped by as well, including drummer Tane Tokona (ex Strange Love), bassist Thomas Bell (member of David Kilgour And The Heavy Eights and Snapper, and manager of Arclife studios), and bassist Noel Ward (who’s appeared on all of Kilgour’s solo albums and plays in The Heavy Eights)
    Minimalist, playful, and easy like rolling down a grassy hill, A Feather In The Engine is imbued with enough musical substance and artistic exactitude to make it a classic. Four bites out of five.

Rockbites ratings  5: life changing, 4: stunning, 3: captivating, 2: amusing, 1: annoying.

| David Kilgour | | David Kilgour on Merge | | The Clean | | CD on Amazon US | | discography | | top of page |

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