If you had caught a snatch of these songs out of context I'm
sure you would have been saying "Who's that again",
"that sounds like somebody the other". The Chills sound
is distinctive, Martin Phillips voice unique. Like hearing a familiar
voice from the past it is at once an uplifting surprise yet unnerving.
"Stand By" (Oct 2004) is the first The Chills new recordings
in 10 years, another oddity in the The Chills discography (Joining
such projects as "The Secret Box", a collection of rarities,
and the "Sketchbook" CD of home recordings and works
in progress. (2 songs from this EP "February" and "Bad
Dancer" appeared as demos in the aforementioned “Secret Box”.)
This is a collection of 8 songs as, Martin Phillips says on the
cover “Here is a few new songs that have been in The Chills live
set and my own solo set over the last year years". This collection
is described as a mini album rather than a regular album. As a
full length The Chills long player I would have been slightly
disappointed with this collection, as an EP it is more palatable
albeit lacking a lead track.
There is a familiarity to the songs, a Chills-ness. I can hear
parts all through it, even harking back to "Brave Words"
era The Chills, trademark keyboards and vocal style. The Chills
have a variety of tempos and moods to their repartee but specialise
in the bone chillers, the atmospheric, melancholy, mildly psychedelic
songs and also the part punk, part garage band, organ-driven rockers.
"Torturing Me" is of the soaring variety, in that "The
Oncoming Day" vein. "True Romance" is one of those
bone chillers, Martin's haunting ballads, lovely slow tempo The
Chills, think "Wet Blanket". I've always preferred this
side of The Chills however the ballads on this collection ("Little
Boy" and "Bad Dancer") are too clean, middle of
the road and lacking the psychedelic edge of The Chills better
mellow numbers.
Some of these are basically Martin solo songs "Little Boy"
and "True romance", the CD also contains a hidden bonus
track. "This Time Tomorrow", which along with "Liberty
or Love" are my favourites from this collection. This is
far from the best work of The Chills, standards are set so high,
put that aside and accept this as a collection of good songs,
it does The Chills justice. The "Stand By" EP, despite
its name, does not seem to be a taster for a new The Chills album,
although Martin does promise a new album "Silver Bullets’,
however the CD cover quotes "stylistically I am preparing
to take the band in quite a new direction with the next LP"
What this EP did serve to do was a reminder of The Chills, that
voice, those tingly tunes, who knows where that new direction
leads but turn the lights low. The Chills seem to suit that feel.
- July 05
